The Dark Lord and The Dark King
by sawyerzelda
Summary: DONE my weirdest fic; 1st potter 1. 6th yr at hogwarts 4 harry, 2 new teachers. who r they? LINK AND ZELDA! 4 those who like legend of zelda harry potter (and a weird twist) read this! but dont feel obliged plz r&r! SEE SEQUEL!
1. The Two New Teachers

Author's Note: This may unintentionally have spoilers for those who have not yet finished reading the fifth book. In fact, I can guarantee spoilers, so beware! And just one more thing: In THIS version, Trewlany AND Firenze were officially sacked.  
  
While I'm at it, I might as well say that I do NOT own Harry Potter or the Zelda games. I really hope that you didn't need me to say that.  
  
Dark Lord and Dark King  
  
"So, who d'you reckon'll be the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher?" Ron asked lazily.  
  
Harry shrugged. "So long as they're nothing like Umbridge, I don't really care at all. More like Lupin would be nice."  
  
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were all on the Hogwarts Express. As usual, their previous Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher had lasted only one year. They were used to this by now.  
  
"And then of course, there's your guys' new Divination teacher," Hermion sighed. "Of course, I don't really care at all what they're like..." Harry, Ron, and Ginny glared at her. "Well I mean I DO, but in case they're like Trelwany, I wouldn't."  
  
"I've never quite had a teacher like Firenze before," Ginny said, looking wistfully out the window. To Harry's surprise, she had matured much over the summer, and was now quite beautiful. "I mean I like him better than Trelawny, but they both suck at actually teaching the material."  
  
"I know, right?" Ron laughed. "Star gazing, and all that. Complete rubbish. Then of course, there's how he was always accusing us of feeling superior to centaurs, and all that other junk."  
  
"Ridiculous," Ginny giggled. "Ooh, I think we're almost there!"  
  
Indeed, the train was slowly coming to a stop. Harry gazed excitedly out the window at what he could see of Hogwarts. Finally, he was coming home. Eventually, the Hogwarts Express stopped completely.  
  
"Look who it is," Hermione whispered in Harry's ear, as they walked out of their compartment.  
  
"Hi, guys!" greeted Luna Lovegood. "Isn't that funny? This whole train ride we were just sitting right across from each other!" She thought it was hilarious.  
  
"Yes...very funny," said Ron, giving a laugh that was obviously fake.  
  
Luna managed to sit next to Harry on the carrige ride to Hogwarts. She nudged him and pointed at the Thestrals pulling them to the castle.  
  
"Don't you just love thestrals?" she asked him. "I think they're so cool...but still, you're quite lucky if you don't see them. 'Cause I mean if you CAN see them, then that means you..."  
  
Harry's mind stopped listening to Luna's mindless babble. His eyes were focused instead on someone far away from him that was in the same carrige. Her eyes, however, were not upon him.  
  
Cho Chang's expression seemed mildly upset, as she talked with her boyfriend named Michael. Harry, whose stomach still lurched every time he saw Cho, wished more than anything that he could hear what they were saying.  
  
"Harry, I thought you were over her."  
  
Turning his gaze from Cho to Ginny, Harry felt himself blushing. "I thought that I was, but I guess I'm not." He sunk down on his seat. "I hate this."  
  
Ginny stared at him for a few moments longer. "Well I hope that you realize she is talking with my ex-boyfriend, so don't feel you're the only one experiencing pain... We have a lot in common, Harry...we've felt so many things together.  
  
Her hint was subtle, but Harry still glanced up at Ginny. She quickly looked away from him, her ears tinting pink as Ron's often did.  
  
A rainstorm blew up, spooking the thestrals somewhat. They didn't like rain much, and were especially freaked when lightening flashed.  
  
****  
  
Once the feast had begun, there were still two empty chairs at the staff table. Apparently, Firenze was gone. Off to find another herd, Harry had presumed. But he couldn't help wondering where the two new teachers were.  
  
While staring at the staff table, Harry saw Hagrid wave at him. Smiling, Harry waved back.  
  
Professor Snape leaned nervously towards Professor McGonagall. "Where are they?" he whispered to her. "Do you--" He was interrupted by an unusually loud crack of lightening and boom of thunder.  
  
"Could you possibly repeat the last sentence?" McGonagall asked Snape politely.  
  
Rolling his eyes, Snape sighed. "I was merely just stating my opinion on these two new teachers. You saw how crazy the school was with a female Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, why not appoint me?"  
  
"She is expected Severus," McGonagall snapped. "We can't just say, 'Oh sorry dear, but one of our teachers has decided he would rather you teach his own class, Potions.' We never do that to new teachers!" Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Besides, I met this new teacher along with Dumbledore, and I'm sure she is fine."  
  
"I met them too," Snape shot back. "They are very suspicious. They don't even seem to be of this earth! What if--"  
  
McGonagall broke into laughter. "Really Severus, listen to yourself! Not of this earth? What other earth is there?" She laughed again, causing Snape to blush a bit. "Don't be ridiculous. I mean, they may be a tad late, but--"  
  
There was another loud boom of thunder, followed by the crash of...the two Great Hall doors closing loudly. The whole school turned in their chairs to look at the newest additions to Hogwarts staff.  
  
A thin, tall and beautiful long-haired blonde woman stood before them. By her side was a man wih deep green eyes, and similarly long blonde hair. Realizing they were late, the two of them ran up to the only unoccupied seats.  
  
"Sorry we're a bit late," the woman whispered to Professor McGonagall. "We got a little lost on the way."  
  
"It's all right, my dear," Professor McGonagall responded kindly. Snape merely glared at the two of them.  
  
Professor Dumbledore stood up, spreading his arms wide. The students, who had already been quiet, looked at him intently. "Allow me to introduce your new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, Professor Harkinian." He gestured towards the lovely woman, who smiled. "And your new Divination teacher, Professor Koke." The new Divination teacher grinned at the woman, then at the students, who applauded loudly.  
  
"Bet Fred and George are sorry they left now!" Ron whispered to Hermione. "That new Dark Arts teacher is..."  
  
"Stunning!" Neville finished for him, staring hungrily at the new teacher.  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes. She was strongly reminded of the arrival of Fleur De Lacour two years ago. Every boy in the school was watching her. Now, they were all looking at the new teacher.  
  
"I find it simply ridic-" Hermione began.  
  
"Bet you wish you hadn't dropped out of Divination now, don't you, Hermione?" Ginny asked, staring dreamy-eyed at Professor Koke. Hermione shot her a callous look, obviously annoyed no one was taking her side.  
  
Upon hearing the new Divination teacher's name, Harry had tried his best not to laugh. He was reminded of Dudley's favorite drink back at Privet Drive; Coke.  
  
"I feel so strange up here," Professor Harkinian said in an undertone to Koke. "Like they're all staring at us, or something."  
  
"Well, most of them are, Zelda," Koke said, taking her hand gently. "Those boys just can't take their eyes off you, can they?"  
  
Zelda laughed. "Right, Link. I just hope that we don't mess anything up."  
  
"We'll do fine, I'm sure. Just so long as we keep our attitudes under control, and you don't let that temper of yours get out of hand."  
  
"But...wands or so weird! Why don't they just use their hands? It would make things so much easier!"  
  
"I don't have to use a wand," Link taunted her. "I only teach Divination. Of course, when called upon, I can still perform some magic."  
  
"Uh-huh. But I still can't believe you went and told Bumbledore-"  
  
"Dumbledore."  
  
"Right, that's what I meant. I can't believe you told Dumbledore that we've had previous teaching experience! What if I mess up?!"  
  
"I already told you, you'll do fine. Besides, with the class drooling at you for the whole time, who cares about lessons?" Link grinned at her.  
  
"Half the class is going to be girls, Link! Unless you're suggesting that this school is filled with les-"  
  
"All right, all right, I get it," Link cut her off hastily.  
  
"And I have another question: Where'd you come up with Koke?"  
  
Link shrugged. "I dunno. It sounded better that Kokiri. Your name is so long. Professor Harkinian. It's going to take one student an entire class time just saying your name to ask a question!"  
  
"Oh shut up," Zelda shushed him, though smiling broadly.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Okay, don't kill me please. I know this story is messed up. By the way, while students will refer to the new teachers as Professor Harkinian and Professor Koke, I the author will call them Link and Zelda (like the two of them will call each other). I hope you don't get confused, so review if you do. 


	2. Transfiguration and Defense Against The ...

The next day, the Hogwarts students got their schedules. Harry, Hermione, and Ron eagerly opened theirs up. Ron's face broke into a grin.  
  
"Check it out, Harry! Defense Against The Dark Arts this morning! Right after Transfiguration! I bet we'll be one of the first classes with the new teacher!"  
  
"Yipee," said Hermione in a bored voice. She glanced at Harry and Ron's schedules. "And you've got Divination in the afternoon. Looks like it's going to be an exciting day, doesn't it? Two new teachers to 'test out.'"  
  
"Oh come on, Hermione," Ginny said. "It is kind of fun. And look, I've got Defense Against The Dark Arts in the afternoon. Tell me about Harkinian at lunch, kay?"  
  
"Sure," said Ron. He glanced at his sister's schedule. "As long as you tell us what we'll be studying in Care Of Magical Creatures."  
  
"No problem. See you guys, then. Don't want to be late for Herbology." Ginny picked up her bag and headed off to the grounds, after smiling at Harry.  
  
"Why don't we get going?" Ron suggested. "We may be a bit early, but better safe than sorry with McGonagall."  
  
"Good idea," Harry grunted, picking up his bag as well. The three of them set on down the corridors to Transfiguration.  
  
"You know, sometimes I have to wonder..." said Ron thoughtfully.  
  
"About what?" Harry and Hermione asked together.  
  
"You know, about Ginny," Ron said uneasily. "Sometimes she seems just so... I don't know, TAKEN with you, Harry. I thought she'd gotten over you, but I guess now that her boyfriend's gone, she's turning back."  
  
"Shut it," Harry mumbled, going slightly red. He hadn't forgotten the valentine Ginny had sent him during his second year. Oh, how humiliating that had been!  
  
"Well, maybe Ron has a point," Hermione said slowly.  
  
"And maybe he doesn't," Harry snapped. He accidentally ran into someone who had been walking in the other direction.  
  
"Watch where you're going!" Harry shot at them, getting to his feet. His heart plummeted when he realized that he'd just run into Cho Chang.  
  
Michael, supposedly Cho's boyfriend, stepped in front of her. "What d'you think you're doing, asking her watch where she's going, Potter?!" he spat at him, shoving Harry's shoulders.  
  
"I didn't...it was just an acc..."  
  
"I don't care if it was an accident you caused!" Mike barked. "If you don't apologize right now to Cho, I'm going to--"  
  
"Michael, it's really all right," Cho said, grabbing his hand away from Harry's face. "We just accidentally bumped into each other; no more his fault than mine. C'mon let's go, we'll be late for Charms..."  
  
Before being dragged away by her boyfriend, Cho gave Harry one last fleeting look, mouthing "bye." Harry was stunned. She had spoken to him, though her face was very red from embarressment.  
  
"Potter! Weasley! Granger!" The three friends' attention had been grabbed by McGonagall, who was waiting impatiently for them at her doorway. "Don't make me take off points for tardiness." They hurried over.  
  
Harry took a seat next to Lavender Brown, who was staring rather doubtfully at her wand. He gave her a confused look, causing her to say,  
  
"My little brother broke my wand over summer vacation. I had it replaced, but I doubt it'll be half as good..."  
  
"All right everyone," McGonagall said, throwing a look at Harry and Lavender (who sank down slightly in their seats from guilt). "Today we will be learning a spell that will transfigure the creature in front of you to turn into its predator."  
  
Ron looked down miserably at the mouse in front of him, reminded of his pet rat Scabbers. He imagined Scabbers turning into Crooshanks, and shivered. Thinking so deeply on the topic, he had missed the incantation as McGonagall had presented it. All he knew was that a fluffy bunny rabbit had taken the place of a green grasshopper on her desk. He gulped.  
  
"Now that you know the incantation," said the professor, "I would like you all to practice it. Remember to jab your wand, don't flick it. Start, please."  
  
Ron leaned over to Harry. "What's the incantation?" he asked quickly.  
  
Before Harry had a chance to answer though, McGonagall walked up to them. "Having trouble, Weasley?" she asked suspiciously.  
  
"Of course not," Ron stammered, sitting straight.  
  
"Good. Why don't you show me how you're coming along with the spell?"  
  
Gulping again, Ron slowly raised his wand. He jabbed it at the mouse, and opened his mouth--only no words came out. The mouse playfully grabbed the end of his wand and licked it in form of greeting.  
  
"I see your wand and the mouse have a nice relationship. Good start," Professor McGonagall sighed sardonically. "Weasley, perform the spell! You can at least TRY it, can't you?"  
  
Ron glanced over at Hermione, who was successfully turning her dragonfly into a large toad and back again. But before Ron could raise his wand again, a loud crashing noise came from the hallway.  
  
McGonagall marched over to the door, enraged that someone would dare interrupt her lesson. She opened the door, the whole class' eyes following her.  
  
In the hallway, Snape was pointing his wand at a seemingly undaunted Link. Snape immediately lowered his arm as McGonagall angrily approached.  
  
"SEVERUS!" she cried in anger, marching right up to him. "How dare you try and place an attack on dear Professor Koke?!"  
  
"Forgive me, Professor," Snape said in a flat voice. "I...I merely thought that I had misheard something he said." At this, Link coughed slightly, rolling his eyes.  
  
"If it is your wish to have some sort of duel, Severus," McGonagall drawled. "I cannot stop you. However, you are not to conduct them during class hours in the hallways!! Am I clear?!"  
  
Snape stared at Link for a moment, then his gaze drifted to McGonagall. "Transparently." He now turned back to Link. "Professor Koke, how does a duel sound to you?" He talked as if Link were a stupid oaf that didn't understand English.  
  
"How's seven tonight?" Link sneered back. Harry was even impressed at this act of bravery. But being a new teacher, how could this Koke person know how dangerous Snape really was? "Shall we play with seconds, Professor Snape?"  
  
"Without them, there would be no duel," Snape snarled. "Though I'm sure I will hardly be needing mine."  
  
"And who would that be?!" McGonagall roared, apparently not wanting to be left out of the conversation.  
  
"Temper temper, Minerva," Snape whispered, laughing quietly. "I'm sure Filch would be glad to be my second." Mrs. Norris, who had just been slinking by, seemed to bob her head and vanish out of sight.  
  
"And who, may I ask, will be your second, Professor Koke?" Snape asked.  
  
"I will," came an exasperated voice. It was Professor Harkinian, walking towards them out of her classroom. Harry was almost sure he could hear both Ron and Neville's hearts beating.  
  
"You?" Snape asked, as if trying to supress a laugh. "A wom..." He wisely stopped talking, after seeing the icy glare McGonagall had thrown him. "Very well then. Don't be late, Koke." Snape turned on his heel and marched back down to the dungeons.  
  
McGonagall came back to her classroom, shutting the door behind her. "Honestly, you'd think a new one would have more sense," she muttered to herself. "Getting themselves stuck into a scrape with Snape, BOTH of th..." McGonagall stopped whispering to herself when she noticed all the students were trying to catch her every word. "Don't eavesdrop!" McGonagall barked at them. "Back to work!"  
  
"Phew, that was close," Ron breathed. "Looks like she forgot about me. Now, what's the incantation, Harry?"  
  
*********  
  
Once Transfiguration was over, Harry had finally managed to turn the squiggling worm on his desk into a blue jay. Ron however, kept on turning his mouse into a gecko instead of a cat.  
  
"I'll never get Transfiguration," Ron muttered miserably, as they waited outside of Zelda's door. "I'll never be an Auror!"  
  
"You'll get it eventually, Ron," Hermione consoled him. "I think your problem was that you kept on poking the mouse's eye with your wand. I mean, you ARE supposed to jab the wand, but not directly into its eye socket."  
  
"Well don't talk like I did it on purpose!" Ron defended. "Is it my fault the stupid thing wanted to slobber all over the tip of my wand like some love-struck maniac?!"  
  
But before the two could continue to bicker, the Dark Arts room opened, and students started milling out.  
  
"She's awesome!" George and Fred Weasley's friend Lee told Harry. "She's got to be one of the--"  
  
"Go on Lee, you'll be late for class!" called out Zelda from her room. Before walking out of sight though, Lee winked at Harry and Ron.  
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione were the first inside the classroom. At first, Zelda did not seem to have noticed their presence. She was bent over a scroll of parchment, trying to stop strands of hair from falling out from behind her ear and into her face.  
  
"Excuse me, Professor," Hermione said quietly. Zelda looked up. She was wearing small half-glasses, and quickly put away the quill she'd been using. Ron couldn't help but stare at her beautiful blue eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I just got rather caught up in...something. So, are you the first three here?"  
  
"Yes," Ron blurted, before Hermione could answer.  
  
"I'm not sure what's keeping the others," Harry added. "They should be here with us; we all came from Transfiguration..."  
  
Suddenly, a steady stream of students billowed into the room. They all took their seats, most of the girls being forced to sit in the back rows.  
  
"Good morning everyone," Zelda greeted them warmly. She stood up from behind her desk. Instead of long billowing Hogwarts robes that most teachers wore, this professor was wearing a dress that reached down to her knees.  
  
"Good morning," everyone automatically said back.  
  
"As you know, I am Professor Harkinian, your new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher."  
  
Ron raised his hand.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Are you going to be staying here for more than a year?"  
  
"Um...I'm not really sure...why do you ask?" Apparently, Professor Harkinian hadn't heard about the trend of DATDA teachers all only staying a year.  
  
"Well you see," said a Ravenclaw girl from the back. "There's been this thing lately where Defense Against The Dark Arts teachers last for only one year."  
  
Deciding not to push the subject, Zelda shrugged. "All right then. However, seeing as how I am not your new Divination teacher, I do not know how long my job here will last." She rolled her eyes, picking up a piece of parchment. "Role Call..."  
  
Everyone was slightly astonished when she reached Harry's name. There was no gasp of amazment, no stare at the scar...she simply acknowledged Harry as just another student. An ordinary, every day student. She moved on down the list.  
  
"All right then," she said, after every student had been marked present. "I'm not sure what the others in my first class said today, but I wasn't planning on actually doing an magic today."  
  
Ron and Harry exchaned glances. They were quite confused, as was Hermione.  
  
"I'd just like to know what your previous Defense Against The Dark Arts teachers did that you liked and didn't like."  
  
To most people's surprise, Neville's hand shot in the year.  
  
"Okay, Neville. What would you recommend?"  
  
"Th-that you shouldn't make us read out of textbooks all day."  
  
"Oh, don't worry," Zelda laughed. "I know what reading out of a book all day is like. I'd never make any of you do what I hate doing myself. Anyone else? Yes, how about you, Patil?"  
  
"I suggest that you don't become a maniacal tyrant and try to take over our school and present system of government."  
  
Zelda laughed along with the students, confusing some of them. "Oh, I know all about that Umbridge woman," shetold them. "The Headmaster told me about her. So what are things you've done before that you actually liked?"  
  
"The Boggart!" Dean shouted, excited.  
  
"No, not a Boggart!" Neville cried. "That scared me half to death! Why not something like a Patronus?"  
  
"We didn't do Patronuses yet," sneered one of the Ravenclaws. "Stop being such a prat, Neville." Apparently, this particular student hadn't been a member of the D.A.  
  
"Patronuses do sound rather interesting," Zelda thought aloud. "Maybe we should try to conjure them this year. I have heard from the Headmaster that...some of you have already been able to do so..." She looked at Harry for a moment, before moving on.  
  
After the class was done, Hermione was the last of the students to be able to leave. Then she noticed her teacher searching through desk drawers, peering into them.  
  
"Erm...have you lost something, Professor?" Hermione asked in a small voice. Zelda straightened, and Hermione noticed how young she looked--as if she hadn't gotten out of school too long ago.  
  
"I seem to have misplaced my wand, I'm afraid," the professor confessed. "And I'm so terribly afraid of a...well, I assume that you heard what Snape is doing with Koke tonight, haven't you? Professor McGonagall left the door wide open..."  
  
"Yes, I heard that he challenged Professor Koke to a duel, and you're going to be his second."  
  
"You see...Professor Koke starts these things up so fast, it's not even funny," Zelda grunted, still looking around in desk drawers.  
  
"Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if Snape had started the argument in the first place," Hermione said quickly. "None of the students here like him very much...except for the Slytherins. He's the head of their house, and he only likes them."  
  
"I see," Zelda muttered, lifting up a book with her hand to see under it.  
  
"Oh look," said Hermione. "Is that your wand, Professor?" She pointed to a thin piece of wood sticking out from beneath a stack of parchment.  
  
"Why yes, it is!" Zelda laughed, thinking she was so stupid to have misplaced such a simple object. "Thank you Hermione, ten points for Gryffindor!"  
  
Beaming, Hermione walked out of the room to follow Harry and Ron to lunch.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
That okay? Plz review!! 


	3. Jobberknolls and Koke

"Guess what?" she asked Harry and Ron, ask they took a seat next to Ginny at lunch. "I just got us ten points!"  
  
"How?" asked Ron.  
  
"Professor Harkinian lost her wand, and I helped her find it!"  
  
"Wow, that's great!" Harry said (though half wishing he'd been the one to find the wand instead). "Oh yeah, Ginny?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"What're we--"  
  
When Ginny turned around, Harry, Ron and Hermione saw a large cut over her left eyebrow. "What happened to you?!" Ron asked desperately.  
  
Ginny sighed. "Care Of Magical Creatures. We're studying Erklings."  
  
"What's an Erkling?" Harry and Ron asked in unison.  
  
"Erklings," Hermione answered, "are elf-like creatures that originated in Germany around the Black Forest. It's larger than a gnome, which is--"  
  
"We didn't ask for a life story," Ron interrupted. "Just tell us what they're like, Ginny. What'd it do?"  
  
"I don't know how much crazier Hagrid can get," Ginny told them. "Erklings are infamous for eating children! Cornelius Fudge would blow his top if he knew we were studying them! I reckon that Hagrid's excuse is that he wants us to learn how to not get entranced by them."  
  
"They lure kids away from their homes," Hermione explained to the dumb-struck Harry and Ron. "Please continue, Ginny."  
  
"The Erkling got so close to me, it tried to take a bite out of my head. Then I realized what was happening, fell out of the trance, and ran off as fast as I could. I guess it's fortunate that I'm not too hurt."  
  
"Just think what Mum'd do if she found out!" Ron gasped.  
  
"I know," Ginny went. "That's why the afternoon classes are studying Jobberknolls. Those ought to be interesting."  
  
"Don't ruin the surprise for me," Ron said to the open-mouthed Hermione. "I'll find out what they are once we get to the class."  
  
A few minutes later, Ginny stood up. "Well, I'm off to Potions. I'll just have to hope that Snape doesn't bite my head off this year. Bye, guys!" She walked off.  
  
"Wait, Ginny!" Harry called after her.  
  
"Yeah?" Turning around in her haste, Ginny accidentally tripped over the leg of Ravenclaw table. Books went flying in the air as she crashed to the ground.  
  
"Are you all right?" asked Cho Chang, helping Ginny up. The Weasley girl, red as a brick, quickly picked up her things and ran out of the Hall.  
  
"What were you going to say to her?" Ron asked Harry, grinning boldly.  
  
"That she forgot her Transfiguration book."  
  
Zelda clicked her tongue ruefully as Ginny fled from the room. "That poor girl. I just hate it whenever I'm in a room of crowded people and then I do something stupid, like trip."  
  
"Yeah, that happens a lot to you, doesn't it?" Link joked. Zelda smiled, hitting Link's forehead lightly.  
  
"You won't be wanting to mess with me before your duel tonight. I may end up having to replace you."  
  
Link laughed. "Oh, you don't scare me. Neither does Snape."  
  
Zelda frowned. "You know, I got a warning from one of my students today. She said that Snape was very prone to start arguments, and that none of the students like him. Well, except for the Slytherins."  
  
"Oh, don't be so nervous. Besides, what would you care if I got hurt? It's not like you really LIKE me or anything." He smiled at her, laughing.  
  
"How can you laugh at something so utterly tragic?" Zelda asked, pretending to be annoyed. "And for the record, I don't 'like' you. You're just my friend."  
  
"That's what they all say!"  
  
Meanwhile, at the other side of the table, McGonagall was deep in conversation with Professor Sprout.  
  
"I think they'll be brilliant teachers," said Sprout. She glanced over at the chattering Link and Zelda. "Look at the dears! Bet they're bearly out of school themselves --don't look any older than twenty."  
  
"I agree," McGonagall stated, smiling. "Because of their youth, they may be able to reach the students in a way that we could not. I do believe the Headmaster said they were two of the youngest Professor ever to work at Hogwarts!"  
  
"How exciting!" Sprout breathed. "And I don't know a soul who's going to miss that Trelawny fraud, do you?"  
  
"Well," said McGonagall, rolling her eyes. "That may be how it is in Hufflepuff, Professor Sprout, but I know some students who are quite devastated, unfortunately." She glanced at Lavender Brown and Padmil Patil. "Oh well."  
  
"Well, thank the High Almighty that we have that Umbridge woman off our backs," Spout sighed. "As High Inquisitor, she probably would've scared the wits out of those poor new Professors."  
  
"I think we're ALL happy that Umbridge is gone," McGonagall agreed. "But come now, I do believe we should heading off to teach."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Look, there are the Slytherins," Ron grunted, as several of the students walked down to Hagrid's hut.  
  
"Here's to another year with Malfoy," Hermione said sarcastically. "He'd better not try anything to get Hagrid sacked this year!"  
  
"Morning, Mudblood," Malfoy greeted Hermione, as he walked up to them. As usual, Crabbe and Goyle were by his side.  
  
"I'm suprised you're so willing to insult me, Malfoy," Hermione sneered through clenched teeth. "What with your father under questioning and such."  
  
Malfoy's ears turned a faintish pink color. "Shut up about my father, Granger."  
  
"All righ' class, time ter get started," said Hagrid. Malfoy and Hermione glared at each other briefly before turning to look at their teacher. "Today we're gonna be studyin' Jobberknolls. Can anyone here tell me what a Jobberknoll is? Yeah, Hermione?"  
  
"A Jobberknoll is a type of bird," Hermione answered, lowering her previously raised hand. "They feed on insects, and are silent until death. At that point, they release every sound they ever heard."  
  
"'At's right, Hermione," Hagrid beamed, setting down three large cages. "Now, right 'ere I've got some cages o' Jobberknolls: Baby ones, adult ones, and those which are fated to die soon."  
  
"Hope you're fated to die soon," Malfoy muttered to Crabbed and Goyle, though talking about Hagrid. They guffawed loudly.  
  
"Righ', here're the babies," mumbled Hagrid, opening the first cage. Inside lay a nest filled with baby Jobberknolls.  
  
"They're adorable," Lavender Brown gushed, leaning in for a closer look. "I've never seen such a cute wittle baby bird!"  
  
"They are rather cute," said Hermione, smiling.  
  
"Now, here we go," said Hagrid, placing a box in front of the students. "I've got a collection o' bugs for you lot to feed 'em."  
  
"You mean we've got to FEED those birds these bugs?!" Pansy Parkinson asked in horror. "That's disgusting!"  
  
"It's what they eat," Hagrid said. "And if you'll be wantin' ter pass this class, Ms. Parkinson, you'll be feedin' the Jobberknolls chicks their food. Go on, class."  
  
"This is sick!" exclaimed Seamus Finnigan, picking up a giant slug. However, there was a large grin on his face. "Awesome!" He carried the slug to one of the chicks.  
  
"Don't give it that," Harry cried. "It'll choke!"  
  
But the Jobberknoll, waiting impatiently for Seamus to give it the gigantic slug, was getting steadily annoyed. It craned its neck up and clamped its beak around the middle of the slug's neck. It swalled its food in about two seconds.  
  
Ron stared at it. "Wicked!"  
  
Pansy Parkinson daintily reached into the box o' bugs. She quickly scooped up a red ladybug. "Here you go, Jobberknoll." She threw the bug at one of the birds, whose side collided.  
  
"YOU HORRID MONSTER!! HOW DARE YOU SET MY CAMP ON FIRE!! I'LL HAVE YOU ARRESTED FOR THIS!!!!  
  
"I didn't do nothin', I swear, it--  
  
"BARRUUUMPP!!!"  
  
The class whipped around, alongside Hagrid. The noises were coming from the third cage. Sighing, Hagrid stuck his hand in and pulled out a Jobberknoll.  
  
"Poor lad," the teacher sympathized. "Dyin' all ready."  
  
The Jobberknoll started making noises like a constipated elephant. It imitated a person gargling, screeched about insurance, made a sound similar to waves on the ocean, and then its head flopped down on Hagrid's hand.  
  
"Poor little bloke," Hagrid sighed. "Don't live too long, Jobberknolls. Yup, e's dead for sure."  
  
"OH, THAT'S SO SAD!!" Lavender Brown cried. "HE USED TO BE SO CUTE, I'M SURE OF IT!!"  
  
Malfoy rolled his eyes.  
  
Once the class was over, Harry and Ron walked up the steps to Divination.  
  
"I hope Koke hasn't gotten the perfumes in there that Trelawny had," Ron laughed heartily. "Otherwise, I might pass out."  
  
"I don't think we should be worried," Harry said. "Trelawny was a weirdo. That's the only right thing Umbridge ever did--fire her."  
  
"I know."  
  
Ron and Harry waited patiently as Ravenclaw students poured out of the door. Cho stopped for a moment before Harry (who felt his heart fly up into his neck).  
  
"This guy really knows his stuff," Cho said. "At last, we have a Divination teacher who actually understands it!" She quickly walked away.  
  
"That was interesting," Ron sighed, trying not to laugh. He and Harry walked up the ladder into Divination. "Wow, it's amazing! I can breathe!"  
  
The room was not filled with the scent of thick perfumes (as it had when their former teacher Trelawny had taught there). Instead, the walls were covered with maps of the stars, and several lands that Harry didn't recognize.  
  
"Bloody hell," said Ron, taking a seat by the window. "Maybe this guy DOES know what he's doing!"  
  
Soon, all the other Gryffindor students had entered the room. Professor Koke smiled at them. Lavender and Padma melted.  
  
"Good afternoon, everyone," he greeted them. "As you know, I am your new Divination teacher, Professor Koke. The Headmaster has left me a list of some things you have worked on, and what you may want to work some more on."  
  
"I hope palm reading is something Dumbledore said we've done," Ron whispered to Harry. "I hate that stuff!"  
  
"If I am correct, you left off with star gazing," Link continued. Several of the students nodded. "But before class starts, role call."  
  
Again, everyone was a little surprised when Link reached Harry's name. He showed no sign of being in awe, and just dismissed him as another student. The class found this to be quite odd.  
  
After finding everyone was there, Link put down the list of names. Using a wand, he swept off all the candles. In the front of the classroom was a glow-in-the-dark map of the universe.  
  
"Right then," Link said, putting a hand to his chin, as if thinking. "Professor Dumbledore said I was to test your memories on the stars. So, may I ask...what would happen if Io collided with Saturn? Yes, how about you, Lavender?......"  
  
At the beginning of class, the students thought Professor Koke was just like his predecessors: boring and stupid. But as it went on, they found that he was much more knowledgeable, and was even nice enough not to give them any homework!  
  
"Wow!" said Ron, as he and Harry headed to dinner. "Guess Cho was right! Koke DOES really know what he's talking about, doesn't he?"  
  
"Yeah," Harry laughed. "Who knows? Maybe I'll actually be able to understand Divination this year."  
  
"Too bad Hermione can't join us," Ron sighed, as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. "But I'm sure she's having a ball in Ancient Runes."  
  
Hermione came running in. She collapsed next to Ron, panting.  
  
"What is it?" Harry asked. Hermione seemed totally out of breath.  
  
"I had to get away from Ancient Runes as quickly as possible," she answered. "Oh, that is disgusting!!"  
  
"What happened?" Ron asked curiously. Hermione was the type who wanted classes like Ancient Runes to last endlessly.  
  
"Right after class, Malfoy set some Dungbombs right outside the doorway. Now it smells like a cow's butt!"  
  
Harry laughed. "Why didn't you do something?"  
  
"What do you mean? What COULD I have done?"  
  
"Hermione!" Ron laughed, beside himself. "You're Head Girl, remember?! You could give Malfoy a week's worth of detention! You could even deduct points from Slytherin, you idiot!"  
  
"OH NO!" Hermione gasped. "I've got to go back!" And she was off at the speed of light to go find Malfoy.  
  
"She is so weird," Neville said to Harry and Ron. "I don't understand how she can fit all that information into her head! It makes me feel like I'm stupid or something.  
  
Dean Thomas was about to say "Well you ARE stupid", but he changed his mind. Instead, he said, "I don't get it either, Neville."  
  
Harry and Ron turned around when Alicia Spinnet walked up to them. "Hey guys! Guess what? I'm the new Quidditch captain!"  
  
"Wow, great!" Ron laughed.  
  
"Wonderful," Harry mumbled miserably.  
  
"Harry, don't be so meloncholy!" Alica scolded him. "Now that Umbridge is gone, you're going to be our Seeker again!"  
  
"I am?!"  
  
"Of course! What'd you think, you prat? That your Firebolt was going to stay at Hogwarts forever?!"  
  
"Wow, this is great!" Harry yelled. His whole attitude had suddenly changed when he found out he would be playing Quidditch again. "When's the first practice?!"  
  
"Before practices start, we need to hold tryouts. With Angelina gone, we're going to need a new Chaser. And of course, now that Fred and George have left, we'll need two new Beaters."  
  
Ginny's head lifted up. "Ooh, can I try out to take Angelina's place?!" Now that Harry was going to be the Seeker again, Ginny could finally achieve her dream of being a Gryffindor Chaser.  
  
"Sure...anyone can," Alicia answered. "But like Angelina did, I want everyone there at the tryouts. So, in two days--don't forget!" She walked away.  
  
"Wow, this is fabulous!" Ron said excitedly. "Harry, we can play on a team again! I can't wait! I've been practicing all summer, so I bet we'll win that Quidditch cup for another year in a row!"  
  
"Malfoy better watch out now," Ron laughed. "And so had Crabbe and Goyle! I bet that no matter who our new beaters are going to be, they'll be way better than those two dopes could ever hope to be!" 


	4. The Duel

Two hours later, Harry and Ron tried getting back to the Gryffindor common room. However, their route was blocked by several students and teachers.  
  
"Hey, what's going on?" asked Ron.  
  
"Oh, hi Ron!" said Hermione, who had just walked up. "Don't you remember the duel between Snape and Koke? It's seven o'clock!"  
  
"And we're allowed to watch?" Harry asked excitedly. He hoped that Snape would suffer defeat.  
  
Eventually, all chattering stopped. Link and Snape walked up onto the platform. They bowed to each other.  
  
"He looks like an idiot with that wand," Zelda thought to herself. "I just know something bad's going to happen."  
  
Professor McGonagall seemed very worried. "Are you sure they'll be all right, Dumbledore?"  
  
"I have all confidence in both," Dumbledore answered shrewdly.  
  
"Expelliarmus!" Snape shouted, thrusting his wand arm at Link. Students watched in horror as Professor Koke was sent flying backwards. The spell had had the same effect on Lockhart four years ago.  
  
Filch smirked. Zelda caught Link's eye, raising her eyebrows at him. Quickly he stood up, pointing his wand at Snape.  
  
"Vera Verto!" Link yelled. Suddenly, where Snape had just stood, there was a small black goblet. The hall rang with laughter, and even McGonagall smiled. Link stared at his wand, apparently mistified by what he had done.  
  
"Cowardly git," Malfoy muttered to Crabbe and Goyle. "Has to resort to changing his opponent into an inatimate object."  
  
Snape reappeared. With flustered cheeks, he swished his wand at Link. "STUPEFY!" he shouted.  
  
Of course, Link was knocked out. Zelda ran and knelt next to him. She rubbed his forehead with her hand.  
  
"Madame Pomfrey?" Professor Dumbledore sighed. Using her wand, the school nurse conjured a stretcher out of thin air, placed Link on it, and walked away.  
  
Snape smirked at Zelda, who had just stood up. "Ready to come to Professor Koke's defense, second?"  
  
In response, Zelda took out her wand and thrust it into Hermione's hands. "Hold this for me, Granger," she said.  
  
"But Professor," Hermione complained. "Won't you be needing this wand to duel with Snape?"  
  
Zelda turned to McGonagall. "I am afraid, Minerva, that where I come from we do not often...study...using a wand. May I be permitted to perhaps use my own form of magic? It may result, however, in serious damage for our dear Professor Snape."  
  
McGonagall looked slightly taken aback. "W-well..." She glanced at Dumbledore, who nodded. "Why yes, of course. Severus, would you be willing for her to do so?"  
  
"Of course!" Snape laughed. "In fact, I would enjoy a 'challenge'!"  
  
"We'll be sending Harkinian to the Hospital Wing in a match box," Malfoy laughed. "She doesn't stand a chance!"  
  
"Yeah, she does!" Ron shot back.  
  
"Why don't you put your money where your mouth is, Weasley?" Malfoy asked. But before he and Ron could start betting, McGonagall told them both to be quiet.  
  
Zelda and Snape walked towards each other, bowed, and then each took ten paces backwards. Snape leered at her. She simply stared determindly back at him.  
  
"STUPEFY!" Snape yelled, sending a red spark from his wand at his opponent.  
  
Just as the spell was about to hit her, Zelda completely disappeared. The sparks ended up hitting a suit of armor, which clanked in complaint.  
  
"She must've Disapparated!" Ron said.  
  
"She can't have," Harry said in awe. "Wouldn't there have been a cracking sound if she had?"  
  
"Yes, I think there would've been," Hermione agreed. Seconds later, Zelda landed perfectly on her feet, right behind Snape.  
  
Snape swiveled around, not too far from Zelda. But before he could even raise his wand, Zelda stuck her arm out, exclaiming "YAH!", and a small ball of fire was sent hurtling in Snape's direction (Din's Fire).  
  
The Potions teacher ducked, causing the attack to singe his hair. Angrily, he stood straight, and glared at the smiling Zelda.  
  
"Come now," she laughed. "I couldn't possibly beat you, could I?"  
  
"Go on, you heard her!" Malfoy yelled, supporting his head of house. "You can beat her, Professor!"  
  
"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Malfoy," Snape said, raising his wand once more. "IMPEDIMENTA!!!"  
  
Zelda caught the spell full force in her left shoulder. Her body twisted, and she fell to the floor. She quickly got to her feet, frowning in a disapproving manner at Snape.  
  
"I don't take things like that very nicely," she said quietly and calmly, starting to walk towards him.  
  
Ignoring this statement, Snape raised his wand again. "STUP--"  
  
Before he could finish the invocation, Zelda had flipped into the air over his head. She grabbed Snape by the shoulders, squinting heavily. Harry and Ron watched in amazement as bolts of electricity surged through their teacher's finger tips and onto Snape. Using the bolts, she slowly lifted him into the air. Then, without warning, Zelda threw him forward.  
  
Snape landed on his side, and stood up, fuming. He lifted his arm quickly, pointing it at Zelda. "STUPEFY!!"  
  
Zelda could see the red sparks nearing her. She quickly pivoted, and was suddenly encircled by a blue light (Nayru's Love). The spell bounced off her protective shield, and reflected right back to Snape. Having expected anything but that, the mortified Potions professor got hit with his on spell full force. He fell to the floor, unconcious.  
  
Loud cheers rang throughout the hall, as Zelda brushed several hairs out of her face. She seemed not too proud or arrogant, just relieved. She hopped off the platform and walked up to the shining Hermione.  
  
"Now that," said Zelda, taking her wand back graciously. "Is magical."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
HA HA!!! POOPY SNAPE IS DEFEATED!! 


	5. Quidditch Tryouts and the Boggart

Witnessing Snape being beaten by a woman probably thirty years younger than him. The hall rang with the cheers of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students. The Slytherins stormed off to their common room.  
  
"Zelda," said McGonagall, stopping her. "I have never before seen a dueling performance quite like that before! Your magic is absolutely astounding!! May I ask, which school you attended?"  
  
"Well, actually, I was home taught. By my nursemaid, Impa," Zelda answered.  
  
"Ah."  
  
"But Minerva, I was just wondering if I could go see Professor Koke. You know, Link, I mean."  
  
McGonagall smiled. "He will be fine my dear, but it'll be all right if you go and visit him."  
  
"Thank you. And could you possibly point me in the direction of the hospital wing? I'm not quite sure where to go."  
  
"I shall take you there Zelda," McGonagall responded. "I have to go see Madame Pomfrey about something anyway."  
  
The two teachers set off in direction of the hospital wing. McGonagall opened the doors, and Madame Pomfrey walked up to them.  
  
"Can I be of any service to you?" she asked.  
  
"Yes," McGonagall answered. "Zelda here would like to visit Link, and I'd like to have a word with you about.something."  
  
"Koke is over there," Pomfrey said to Zelda, gesturing towards him. "Come over here to my office, Professor McGonagall."  
  
Zelda walked in the direction that Madame Pomfrey had pointed to. She sat down on a chair next to Link. He looked up at her.  
  
"Well, how'd you do, Zel?"  
  
"A lot better than you did," Zelda laughed. "I think Snape is obsessed with that Stupefy spell, though. He tried using it on me every chance he could. Fortunately, it seemed that I was better prepared than you were."  
  
Link managed to laugh. "I wonder if Snape is at all embarrassed."  
  
"They'll probably be bringing him in soon." Zelda grasped Link's hand, then quickly dropped it.  
  
"I wish you could see your face right now, Zelda," Link whispered.  
  
"Why, what's wrong with it?" she asked, frowning slightly.  
  
"It's beautiful."  
  
Zelda completely melted, forcing herself to look into Link's eyes. She gently brushed some hairs out of his face, subconsciously stroking his cheek in the process.  
  
"Zelda, I wish I could just."  
  
"I-I've got to go," Zelda interjected, standing up. "Sorry." She quickly walked away, determined not to let a single tear fall.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Two days later, Harry ran excitedly outside with Ron. He was finally going to be able to fly again. As soon as they reached the Quidditch field, Harry mounted his Firebolt and zoomed off.  
  
"Hey, Harry!" Alica called. "Get on down here, will you? We don't have time to fool around; some people have come to try out!"  
  
Reluctantly, Harry landed his broom. He walked up to Ron, who was standing uneasily next to Alicia and Katie Brown.  
  
"Okay," announced Alica. "First, we have Colin and Derek Creevy trying out for the Beater positions."  
  
Harry rolled his eyes. "Those two couldn't hit a bludger if their lives depended on it," he muttered to Ron. They both chuckled softly.  
  
"Here," said Katie, giving each Creevy brother a bat. "We're going to let loose the bludgers, start flying, and you two are to make sure we don't get hit. Got it?"  
  
"Yup," answered Colin.  
  
"What's a bludger?" Derek whispered to his brother, who nudged him.  
  
"All right, go!" shouted Alicia. The players mounted into the air, except Katie, who released the bludgers.  
  
To make a long story short, disaster followed. Neither of the Creevy brothers managed to hit a bludger even once. Ron nearly got hit by one, at which Alicia told them to get off the field.  
  
Later that evening, all positions had been filled. Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnagin became the new Beaters, and Ginny was given the honor of replacing Angelina.  
  
"Wow, this is so exciting!" Ginny squealed, as she headed back to the castle with Ron and Harry. "I can't wait until practice next week!"  
  
"Same here," said Harry. Quidditch was one of the major reasons that he loved going to Hogwarts.  
  
"I hope our first match'll be against Slytherin," Ron said. "I can't wait to see how our new team plays in a game! Finnagin and Thomas can beat those dumbheads Crabbe and Goyle to a pulp any day!"  
  
"You're not joking," Ginny laughed.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Oh look, here comes the mail," said Hermione the next morning at breakfast. Sure enough, hundreds of owls swooped through the windows at Hogwarts, dropping letters addressed to their owners.  
  
"Hey, there's Hedwig," Ginny observed. A snowy white owl flew down to their table and dropped an envelope in front of Harry. She nibbled a bit at his toast, then headed off towards the owlery.  
  
"Open it up, mate," Ron advised.  
  
Harry tore open the envelope. Inside he found a letter from Lupin:  
  
"Dear Harry,  
  
While tidying up Snuffle's house the other day, I came upon a knife similar to the one he gave you before. You know, the one with the tip you melted last year trying to open a door at the Ministry of Magic.  
  
Enclosed in this envelope is the similar knife I found. Since I have no use for it, I hope that you will take it from me.  
  
Best wishes, Moony"  
  
Harry dove his hand back into the envelope. As Lupin had said, there was a knife identical to the one he had previously ruined. Not wanting anyone else to see it (besides Ron and Hermione, obviously), he pocketed it.  
  
In Defense Against The Dark Arts that day, Professor Harkinian began showing her classes how to produce Patronus. Ever since her duel with Snape, the girls started to respect and like her (and of course, the boys only liked her more for it).  
  
"Here, let me show you what a Patronus looks like," said Zelda to her sixth year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. She stepped out from behind her desk and to the front of the classroom. Harry could just smell the scents from her hair.  
  
"Can you smell that?" Ron asked Harry in a heavenly grin.  
  
"'Course I can," Harry muttered back.  
  
"Okay, here I go," Zelda said. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!" She flung her wand arm forward, and a silver orb burst out of the tip. The orb eventually took the shape of a large dragon. It bobbed its head around, as if searching for a Dementor. Upon realizing that there were none in sight, it winked at Zelda and vanished.  
  
"Wow, that was amazing, Professor!" Padma Patil gushed. "I've always wanted to learn how to produce a Patronus!"  
  
"Well, you're going to learn how," her teacher said. "All of you are."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Later that night at dinner, Harry noticed that Professor Harkinian was not at the staff table. Wondering where she could be, he glanced at Snape, who was deeply in conversation with Professor Sinistra.  
  
Then Hermione nudged Ron. "Look over there!"  
  
Both Ron and Harry looked in the direction that Hermione was pointing to. On the other side of the hall, they could see Cho having a heated discussion with Michael. He bared his teeth at her, and she returned his infuriated expression one with fright.  
  
"What's he doing?" Harry grumbled to no one in particular. Suddenly, Cho got up from the table and fled from the hall. Pretending not to care, Michael turned back to his own dinner.  
  
Harry stood up. "I'm going to go see if she's okay." He quickly left the room.  
  
"Looks like the flame is still there," Hermione sighed, turning back to her kidney pudding. "Here we go again."  
  
After looking around outside the Ravenclaw dormitory, Harry was quite confused. Cho couldn't have gone inside already, because he'd have seen her. Then he heard it.  
  
The sounds of screams came echoing from another room. Harry whipped around, looking in different directions. Apparently, the shrieks of agony were coming from a room below him.  
  
Hurrying down the stairs, Harry wondered worriedly if Cho was all right. Then he realized that the screams were coming from Professor Harkinian's room, and he dashed in the direction. He flung the door open.  
  
As Harry had thought, Zelda was crouched in the corner of the room, tears splashing down her face, her wand out. "R-r-Riddikulus!" she sputtered, still looking completely terrified. "R-Riddikulus!"  
  
Then Harry saw the Boggart that his teacher was trying to ward off. It had taken the shape of a tall, frightening looking man. Laughing evilly, the man threw and caught three small objects in his hands-three, small golden pyramids.  
  
"I've got them, Princess!" the man laughed. "Now that I have the Triforce, not even Link can stop me! So long, Zelda!"  
  
"N-NO!" Zelda shouted. "Riddikulus!"  
  
Harry bounded in front of the man. "RIDDIKULUS!" he yelled. Immediately, the green man vanished into thin air.  
  
Still sobbing rather hard, Zelda tried to stand up. Harry quickly walked over, and helped her.  
  
"Professor Harkinian, are you all right?" he asked her.  
  
"Yes, yes, I'm fine," she sniffed, wiping away at her eyes. "I.it was just the Boggart. I never imagined what it would turn.but then of course, they do always turn into what you fear most.Thank you, Harry."  
  
"Your welcome," Harry said awkwardly. "But Professor.who was that man? What was he holding?"  
  
"I'm sorry, Harry," Zelda apologized, putting a hand on his shoulder. "But I am afraid that I cannot tell you. You go on and get back to dinner." Harry was about to leave, when she stopped him once more. "But could you do just one more thing for me?"  
  
"Sure," he answered.  
  
"Tell Professor Koke to meet me in my office in two hours."  
  
"All right."  
  
"Thank you so much, Harry."  
  
"N-no problem."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
DUN DUN DUN!!!! Plz review! 


	6. Gannondorf

Harry rushed back to the Grand Hall. He quickly walked up to the staff table. "Professor Koke?"  
  
Link turned to face him. "Yes?"  
  
"Er.Professor Harkinian asked if you would meet her in her office in two hours."  
  
Looking both confused and worried, Link nodded. "All right. Thank you."  
  
Harry ran back to the Gryffindor table. He grabbed Hermione and Ron's shoulders and turned them around.  
  
"What is it?" Hermione asked. "Did you find Cho?"  
  
"No, but there's something I've got to tell you guys about," he responded. "C'mon, back to the common room."  
  
Confused, Hermione and Ron exchanged glances, but hurried out of the hall behind Harry. They approached the Fat Lady.  
  
"Password?"  
  
"Barfing Boggart," said Ron.  
  
"Well, I hope you weren't referring to Humphrey!" the Fat Lady sniffed, opening up for them (A/N: Humphrey Bogart was an actor from the 30s and 40s).  
  
Harry was relieved to find that the Gryiffindor common room was empty. Everyone else was still at dinner. He, Ron, and Hermione took three chairs by the fireplace.  
  
"What is it, Harry?" Ron asked. "You look really worried!"  
  
"That's because I AM worried, Ron," Harry sighed, sinking down in his chair.  
  
"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked. "Tell us."  
  
"Well, I went out to look for Cho," Harry began. "Just when I was about to give up, I heard screaming coming from the floor beneath me."  
  
"Who was it?" Ron asked.  
  
"I ran down the stairs, and realized that the screams were coming from Harkinian's room. I went inside, and saw her in the corner, crying. There was a boggart in the room."  
  
"What form did it take?" Hermione inquired curiously.  
  
"That's just it," Harry tried to explain. "I've never seen anything like it before! It was a man who had green skin, and his hair was vibrant red color. He was holding three, small golden pyramids in his hand. And.he called the Professor a 'Princess'!"  
  
"Princess?!" Hermione and Ron repeated, dumbfounded.  
  
"Yeah! And then he said something like Hyrule was going to die."  
  
"What's Hyrule?" asked Ron. "A place?"  
  
"I would assume so," Hermione mumbled. "Harry, what could this possibly mean? And who is the man?"  
  
"I've got no idea," Harry sighed. "That's what we've got to figure out! If we do, maybe we can give Professor Harkinian some help! She looked completely terrified, as if she were going to die!"  
  
"Isn't that what Boggarts do, though?" Hermione asked. "Scare the wits out of you?"  
  
"You guys didn't see her face," Harry said. "But we've got to find out who this guy is that was scaring her!"  
  
"How could we possibly do that?" Ron questioned him.  
  
"W-well.I know that Koke is going to her office in about two hours."  
  
"That's it!" Ron cried, standing up and throwing his arms in the air. Hermione and Harry stared at him blankly. "Apparently you're both confused. But over the summer vacation, Fred and George gave me a box of Extendable Ears!"  
  
"They did?!" Harry asked with excitement. "That means we could hear what they're saying, and then maybe help!"  
  
"Isn't that a bit rude, though?" Hermione asked. "You know, eavesdropping on their conver." Ron and Harry glared at her. "Oh all right, I suppose it wouldn't hurt. We'll just have to make sure we don't get caught."  
  
"Right," said Harry. "Ron, go upstairs and get the Extendable Ears."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Two hours later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed towards the Defense Against The Dark Arts class room.  
  
"Ron, be careful!" Hermione whispered. "You're pulling it off my foot!"  
  
When she said "it," Hermione had been referring to Harry's Invisibility cloak. Now that the three had grown so much bigger, it had become more difficult to hide underneath it.  
  
"Sorry," Ron squeaked.  
  
Eventually, the three of them reached Zelda's office. They stopped and dropped to the floor when they heard footsteps coming. It was Link, heading down the corridor to the room they were right outside of.  
  
Link stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him. Ron, Harry, and Hermione pulled out their Extendable Ears and slid them under a crack in the wall.  
  
"Oh, Link, you're here," they could hear Zelda whisper, as footsteps walked across a wooden floor.  
  
"Yes. Potter said you wanted to see me about something," Link responded. "What is it? You look as if you were-"  
  
"I was, Link. I've been sitting here with a bag of ice on my eyes for the past hour and a half waiting for the tears to go away. Link, there was a Boggart in my desk!"  
  
"A Boggart?" Link asked. There was a pause, and Harry presumed that Zelda was nodding. "It was Gannondorf, wasn't it?"  
  
"Y-yes!" Zelda sniffed, placing her arms around Link.  
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged confused looks. Who was Gannondorf? They waited for more.  
  
"I mean, I know it was just a boggart," Zelda continued. "But he looke just so real! He had the Triforce and he told me th-that Hyrule is going to be destroyed!"  
  
In an effort to reassure her, Link hugged Zelda. "Don't worry, Zel. It was just a boggart. You don't have to worry. You KNOW that the Triforce is safe here, with us. Ganon can't get it."  
  
Zelda started taking deep breaths, and eventually calmed down. "Thank you for your consolation, Link. You just know how worried I can get even over the stupidest things.I've just been having these horrid nightmares about Gannondorf coming-"  
  
"Princess, it'll be okay," Link whispered. "Besides, I'm sure that if Ganon even came anywhere CLOSE to Hogwarts, Dumbledore could-"  
  
"Link, I know that Dumbledore is a great wizard, but he just.he doesn't know Ganon like we do! He doesn't know him like.like you do."  
  
"Zelda, I've done it before. You know I can always do it again."  
  
Link opened the door. Ron, Harry and Hermione flattened themselves against the wall to avoid being hit.  
  
"Yes, I know you're here," Zelda whispered, walking out of her office with into a completely deserted corridor. "You have no idea how much.safer that makes me feel."  
  
Turning around, Link gently stroked Zelda's cheek. A single, last, small tear slowly fell down it. "I don't ever remember you saying anything like that to me before."  
  
"Well, I admit it was rather long overdue," Zelda confessed. "But just think what a rut I'd be in if you hadn't always been there for me." She took one more small step towards Link, as if she were about to kiss him, but then quickly stepped away. "Good-night, Link." Zelda retreated back into her office.  
  
Sighing heavily, Link walked away.  
  
"Bloody hell," Ron exclaimed.  
  
"Let's go back to the common room where we can discuss this with more safety," Hermione suggested.  
  
And with that, the three of them walked quietly back off.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
yahoo 


	7. Research

When Harry, Ron, and Hermione got back to the common room, they found that it was fully of other Gryffindors. In order to avoid snooping students, the three friends found some chairs in the corner of the room.  
  
"Okay." said Ron, after a long silence. "Who is Gannondorf?"  
  
"And what's a Triforce?" Harry asked. He and Ron slowly turned to Hermione.  
  
"Don't look at me!" she cried, a little taken aback. "You think that I know what and who those things are?"  
  
"Yeah," Ron said slowly. "You know everything, Hermione! How could you possibly NOT know what they are?! We're desperate Hermione, you've got to think!"  
  
"RON! I am not an encyclopedia! I don't know everything there is to know in the world! I'm as confused as you are about this whole thing!"  
  
"Well maybe if you-!"  
  
"Guys," Harry interrupted. "Fighting about things we're unsure of won't help to solve anything. But we also know that today, two people have called Harkinian a princess.but how is that possible?"  
  
"I don't know," Hermione whispered, deep in thought. "This is all just so confusing! It doesn't make any sense."  
  
"Hey, I've got an idea!" exclaimed Ron. "Remember in our first year when we went to research Nicholas Flamel because we'd never heard of him? Maybe we could do the same with this Gannondorf person!"  
  
"That's a great idea, Ron!" Hermione agreed. "But of course, we're going to have to start looking for information tomorrow. The library is closed now."  
  
"I don't know about you two," said Harry, standing up. "But I think I want to go to bed and get some sleep. Night."  
  
"Yeah, me too," Ron consented, also standing up. "Night, Hermione."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The next morning, Harry sat down for breakfast with Ron and Hermione.  
  
"Where's Ginny?" asked Harry.  
  
"Well, you know she got bitten by that Erkling the other day?" Ron said glumly. Harry and Hermione nodded. "She got infected. Ginny's in the hospital wing now, but Madame Pomfrey said she'd be okay."  
  
"It's a good thing she's not too hurt," Hermione said, buttering a piece of toast. "I just hope no suspicion arouses around Hagrid."  
  
"I'm not sure if Madame Pomfrey could tell what the infection came from," Ron said in response. "So I think Hagrid'll be okay."  
  
"Oh no," Harry groaned. "We've got double Potions today with the Slytherins!"  
  
"Of course we have it with the Slytherins," Ron sighed. "Who else? You know, I was just beginning to think that we'd be able to get through two weeks without having double potions. But no, we just had to have it on Friday."  
  
"Typical," Hermione stated. "I just hope that Snape doesn't assign us another one of his essays to do."  
  
"I thought you like doing essays," Ron and Harry said in unison.  
  
"Just because I do well on them doesn't mean I like them!" Hermione exclaimed, a little insulted. "I just want to get good grades and do well!"  
  
"Okay, okay," Ron said. "Don't have a cow."  
  
"Well, we've got Charms after Potions," Harry remarked, changing the subject. "I hope he doesn't make us keep trying that Grumpy Spell. It's getting so degrading."  
  
"I think Flitwick said this was our last day of it," Ron said. "And it had better be. I'm with you on it. What ever happened to the Cheerful Charms?"  
  
"I say we move on to counter-jinxes," Hermione sighed wistfully. "You two could both stand a little help in that area."  
  
"Har, har," Harry joked. "Just because you're a genius and we're idiots doesn't give you the right to keep reminding us about it."  
  
"Hey, speak for yourself!" Ron laughed.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Today," said Professor Snape. "You will be learning how to make the antidote for Erkling bites." Ron could've sworn that Snape glanced at him. "You'll find the instructions on the board, and ingredients on your desks. You may begin."  
  
"So," said Harry, counting out a certain amount of hamster pellets. "Do you think this is just coincidence, or what?"  
  
"No way," Ron breathed. "Snape knows about what happened to Ginny. Unless, of course, it IS really freaky coincidence."  
  
"And I say that you two continue on your antidotes," Snape snarled at the two of them. "Perhaps later I'll test them on you.providing, of course, that someone gave me a pair of some Erklings." He walked away.  
  
"Yup," Harry and Ron said together. "He knows."  
  
"Hey, you guys," said Hermione, looking around. "Have you seen my jellyfish legs? I seem to have misplaced them."  
  
"Nope," Ron responded. "I've just got the ones I need."  
  
Hermione stooped down to look under her desk. While her attention was distracted, Malfoy leaned over and added several newt eyes to Hermione's cauldron.  
  
Harry had seen him do it. "Malfoy!! What'd you do that for?!" As soon as he'd asked it, Harry knew it had been dumb. Malfoy hated Hermione simply for being a "Mudblood," and for being Harry's friend.  
  
Malfoy put on his most innocent expression. "What on earth are you talking about, Potter? I didn't do anything!"  
  
"I saw you!" Harry growled, gripping his wand in his pocket. "You put newt eyes in Hermione's cauldron when she wasn't looking!"  
  
"What happened?" asked Hermione, standing up.  
  
Snape quickly walked over. "Yes, what did happen, Malfoy?"  
  
"I saw it all, professor!" Malfoy said. "Granger had bent down to look for some ingredients she lost, and then Potter put newts eyes into her cauldron!"  
  
Slowly, Snape turned to face Harry. "Potter, surely you knew that newt eyes are not in the antidote?"  
  
"Professor, I-"  
  
"And I am slightly surprised that you would intentionally mess up Miss Granger's potion, since she is your friend and fellow Gryffindor."  
  
"But sir, I-"  
  
"Potter, I have an eyewitness. Ten points from Gryffindor, and meet me here at seven tonight for detention." Before Harry had another chance to argue, Snape swept to the other side of the room. Malfoy grinned and turned back to his own cauldron.  
  
"Harry, you didn't do that, did you?" Hermione asked, who had finally found her jellyfish legs.  
  
"Of course not!" Harry grunted. "Why would I do that, Hermione! It was Malfoy who put the eyes in your cauldron! Now you're going to have to start all over again!"  
  
"No, I won't," said Hermione calmly. She made sure that Snapes back was turned, then quickly (but subtley) pulled out her wand. "Accio newt eyes!" she whispered, pointing the wand at her cauldron.  
  
"Hermione! You're not allowed to-"  
  
Harry watched on helplessly as a steady stream of newt eyes flew out of Hermione's cauldron and into her open hand. She quickly stuffed them into her pocket and carried on.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Later that day at lunch, Harry, Ron and Hermione went straight to the library. They were still quite intent on researching Gannondorf.  
  
"Well, at least we've got something of a start," Hermione pointed out, as they sat down at a table. "We know he's evil."  
  
"How could that possibly help?" Ron asked.  
  
"Because we know he won't be in anything like 'Wizards Who Helped To Save The World,' and stuff like that," Harry answered. "So come on, let's get started."  
  
Hermione picked a book off the shelf that was titled, "Wizards That Revolutionized The Earth." She swore loudly upon discovering that the book had no index, and impatiently flipped through the pages for Gannondorf.  
  
"Not in here," sighed Ron, who had just scanned the index of "Freaky Wizards and Where To Find Them."  
  
"No luck in here," Harry said, closing a title-less textbook. "Hey look, there's Hagrid! Maybe he can help us!"  
  
"We shouldn't ask him for help," Hermione disagreed. "Remember how reluctant he was to offer it when we were looking for Nicholas Flamel? He point-blank refused to give us the tiniest piece of information!"  
  
"That's because we weren't supposed to know about Flamel!" Ron snapped, standing up and walking towards Hagrid.  
  
"But what if we're not supposed to know about Gannondorf either?" Hermione asked, hurrying after Harry and Ron.  
  
"Stop being such a worry wart," Harry said to her impatiently. "Hey, Hagrid!"  
  
"Hello there, 'Arry!" Hagrid greeted them. "What're you lot doin' in the library when there's lunch ter be eaten?"  
  
"We've been doing a little research," Ron answered. "On a wizard. And we were wondering if you could possibly give us a hand."  
  
"I'll do the best I can," Hagrid responded cheerfully. "Who is it tha' you three are studyin'?"  
  
"His name is Gannondorf," Harry whispered.  
  
"Gannondorf?" Hagrid repeated, apparently non-plussed. "I don't know any wizard by the name of Gannondorf.are you sure that's the right name?"  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged glances. "Yes, we're sure."  
  
Hagrid still seemed confused. "Sorry, mates. Can't help you there.but I got ter be getting' ter Professor McGonagall. She's been wantin' these Jobberknolls for inspection." The three friends noticed a large box he was holding. "But 'ere you go, since you ain't goin' ter lunch." He quickly gave them each a Fizzing Whizbee. "Well, gotta go."  
  
"I don't believe it!" Ron exclaimed, as Hagrid siddled off. "He's never even heard of this guy before!"  
  
"Unless he's faking it," Hermione mused. "Maybe he's learned from experience not to tell us anything of value. And besides, you heard Professor Harkinian.she said she didn't know whether or not Dumbledore would be able to defeat Gannondorf!"  
  
"Maybe he's even worse than Voldemort!" Harry said, making Ron flinch. "Oh, stop being such a sissy, Ron."  
  
"But if he was worse than Voldemort, SURELY we'd have heard of him?!" Hermione cried desperately. "We definitely would have!"  
  
"Unless he's from ancient history," Harry whispered. "You know, like maybe he can live forever, but he went out of action for a few centuries!"  
  
"What do you mean?" Ron asked.  
  
"If Gannondorf was evil in, like, 5,000 B.C., maybe nobody knows him! It is possible that he's immortal and can survive.but he got stopped by something and-"  
  
"Okay, I think I've got your point," Hermione interrupted. "And of course, Hagrid could've been telling the truth about not knowing who Gannondorf was."  
  
"I don't know about you two," said Ron. "But I'm eating this Fizzing Whizbee now. I'm starving!"  
  
"Yeah, me too," said Harry, starting to eat his. Hermione did the same.  
  
"EXCUSE ME!!" came a voice from the other side of the room. Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned around. It was Madame Pince, the librarian. "You should know by now that food is forbidden from the library at all times!! NOW GET OUT OF HERE!!"  
  
"Okay, okay, we're going," Ron sighed, as they packed up their things.  
  
"I HEARD THAT, WEASLEY!!" Madame Pince roared. "NOW GET OUT!!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
DUN DUN DUNNN!!!! Ain't Malfoy a stinker? 


	8. Detention or Quidditch practice?

"Harry, you didn't finish your Charms essay already, did you?" Ron asked in amazement, as his friend started packing up his things.  
  
"No," Harry replied grumpily. "I've got detention with Snape tonight, remember?"  
  
"Oh yeah," Hermione groaned. "Hope you don't have too much of a bad time, Harry. Try and come back to us in one piece."  
  
"I will," Harry sighed, rolling his eyes. He walked out of the common room and towards the dungeons. Before he could knock on the door, it opened.  
  
"Come in, Potter," said Snape, who had been sitting at his desk. When Harry walked in, the Potions master stood up and walked over to him. "So, are you ready to receive the punishment for your actions, Mr. Potter?"  
  
Harry glared at him. He knew that no matter how much he argued his innocence, Snape would never believe him.  
  
"I take your silence for a yes," Snape sneered, smiling wryly. "I've been thinking for awhile: what should I have you do for detention? The answer came to me soon enough. I figured that I'd have you re-" Snape was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Who is it?" he asked with annoyance.  
  
Link walked in briskly. Snape's eyes narrowed. "What do you want here, Koke? Can't you see I'm trying to give Potter detention?"  
  
"Oh, you are?" Link asked innocently. "What's he in for?"  
  
Snape's lip curled. "That's no concern of yours, Koke."  
  
"All right then." Link turned to Harry. "What're you in for, Potter?"  
  
Harry was slightly taken aback. Then he had second thoughts. Snape would never believe his innocence, but maybe Koke would. "Well you see Professor," Harry began. "I was in Potions class earlier today and got falsely accused."  
  
Snape looked like he wanted to say something, but Link stepped in front of him, still looking at Harry. "Go on."  
  
"I got blamed for putting newt eyes in my friend's potion, but I didn't do it! I mean, it doesn't even make sense! Why would I mess up my friend on purpose?"  
  
"Out of jealousy," Snape snarled. "Granger's always been a perfect little genius in your mind, hasn't she, Potter? So you tried to throw her off her guard, just so you could get a better grade than her!"  
  
"Professor Koke, that isn't true!" Harry complained. "It was another student that did it, not me!"  
  
"It wouldn't happen to be Malfoy, would it?" Link asked calmly.  
  
"Yes!" Harry responded, just as Snape said, "Don't be ridiculous!" The two of them glared at each other.  
  
"Professor Snape," Link said curtly, turning to him. "I've been hearing a few complaints around the school, saying that Potter got framed. May I ask, sir, who witnessed Potter.messing up his friend's potion?"  
  
"It was Malfoy!" Snape snapped (ooh, that sounds weird!).  
  
"Just Malfoy?"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"Well, Professor, I have more than one eyewitness who says that it was Malfoy who put the newt eyes in the girl's cauldron. Therefore, I am under the impression that Potter is innocent. Would you care for me to bring in these eyewitnesses?"  
  
Snape opened his mouth slightly, then clamped it shut again. "No," he said quietly, through gritted teeth.  
  
"Good. Because the Headmaster has already requested that Harry sees him at once."  
  
His eyes widening a bit, Snape clenched his fists. "Fine, Potter. Go!"  
  
Without any question, Harry walked out of the room with Link. Once they had left the dungeons, he turned to his Divination teacher.  
  
"Professor Koke, what does the Headmaster want to see me about?"  
  
Link shrugged. "Nothing."  
  
"But you said that he had to see me! Snape believed you!"  
  
Seeming unconcerned about this, Link shrugged again. "He lies, I lie. Besides, I thought you would rather go to your first Quidditch practice than spend the night in detention with Snape. Unless of course, you want to- "  
  
"No, no," Harry said quickly, smiling. "It's okay. Wow, Professor, are you allowed to do stuff like that?"  
  
"Well, you WERE innocent, weren't you?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then you were unjustly put in detention in the first place. And by the way, I gave you back your ten points."  
  
"Wow! Thanks, Profess-"  
  
"Oh, don't waste time thanking me. You don't want to be late for Quidditch!"  
  
"Thanks again!" Harry shouted, running down the hall.  
  
***  
  
A few minutes later, Harry was getting changed for Quidditch practice.  
  
"Hey!" said Ron, once Harry walked out onto the field. "I thought that you had detention with Snape!"  
  
"Koke bailed me out!" Harry responded, grinning.  
  
"What d'you mean?"  
  
"I'll explain later."  
  
"Okay, people!" Alicia said, clapping her hands for attention. "Let's get started! Katie's getting the box that has all the balls in them, so I'll just explain what we're going to do: Ron, you're going to defend the goals from me, Katie, and Ginny. Ginny, do you think you'll be okay to play?"  
  
"I'm fine," Ginny responded. She had just been let out of the Hospital wing, and was sporting a long, white bandage on her forehead.  
  
"Okay, then. Finnigan, Thomas, it's going to be your guys' jobs to keep the Bludgers away from us, and Harry-you know what to do."  
  
"Yup," said Harry, smiling.  
  
Katie came onto the field, panting, and holding the large box. She set it down and opened it up. Inside lay the Quaffle, Snitch, and the two bludgers.  
  
"Okay, everyone mount your brooms!" Alicia ordered, walking over to the box. I'm going to release the Quaffle first, then the Bludgers, and then the Snitch. Okay? All right, get on up there!"  
  
The six other players went into the sky, and got into their postitions. Alicia let go of the Quaffle, and Ginny caught it. She let loose the Bludgers and the Snitch, then launched herself in the air.  
  
"Let's play!" Alicia shouted.  
  
Ginny threw the Quaffle to Katie, who zoomed down the field. As a bludger came flying towards her, Seamus quickly flew past her and whacked it away. From surprise, Katie dropped the ball--and Alica caught it.  
  
Harry flew around the Quidditch field, totally at ease. Being back on his broomstick felt so natural. He didn't know what he'd have done if he HAD been given a life-long ban from the sport.  
  
Finding the Snitch was easier said than done. The tiny, golden ball flew around so fast, you were lucky to catch even a glimpse of it. But Harry had a knack for spotting the Snitch that not everyone else had.  
  
Meanwhile, Ron blocked another shot, this one had come from Alicia.  
  
"Hey, Ron!" Katie laughed. "Have you been practicing over the summer? You've gotten really good!"  
  
"Thanks," Ron said, his ears turning slightly red.  
  
***  
  
Once the practice ended, Harry walked back up to the castle with Ron and Ginny. All of them were panting a bit, but still smiling.  
  
"It must feel great to be back on the team!" Ron said to Harry.  
  
"You bet it is!"  
  
"I told you, Harry," Ginny laughed. "I knew that Umbridge would be leaving us after a year, and I was right. Now you're back on the team!"  
  
"Well, I'm sure you did great as the Seeker while I was gone," Harry responded quickly, turning a bit pink.  
  
"Are you kidding me? I was terrible. I think I'm much more adept at being a Chaser. Being the Seeker was too much pressure for me."  
  
"Being a Keeper can build up a lot of pressure too, you know," Ron cut in. "Especially if you've got people singing that...song." His ears turned red, as he remembered the song that the Slytherins had made up last year, "Weasley is Our King."  
  
"Well, like Katie said, you're much better this year," Ginny comforted him, as they approached the Gryffindor common room. "Barfing Boggarts."  
  
The fat lady's portrait swung open. "I can't wait for our first match against Slytherin," Ron chuckled. "They are so history!"  
  
"I'd just love to see them try and sing that song again this year!" Ginny remarked, heading up the staircase to the girls' dormitories. "Good- night, guys."  
  
"Night," Harry said, as Ginny closed the door behind her. Harry turned to face Ron. "Why didn't you say good night to your sister?"  
  
Ron shrugged. "I thought she'd find it enough if you said it for me." He pretended to be Ginny, love-struck and big eyed.  
  
"Oh, shut up Ron," Harry retorted, trying to fight a grin.  
  
"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask you," Ron sighed, flopping down on his bed. "What did you mean when you said Koke 'bailed' you out of detention with Snape?"  
  
Harry sat down on his bed as well. He found no point in prolonging the truth. "He lied by saying that Dumbledore wanted to see me."  
  
"He did what?!" Ron cried, sitting up straight again. "D'you mean to tell me that Koke had the nerve to just stand up to Snape and lie to his face?!"  
  
"Yeah," Harry replied calmly. "Besides, he knew that I was innocent, and if Snape ever finds out, he'll let him know that I was injustly put in detention in the first place."  
  
"Harry, that's never stopped Snape before."  
  
"Oh well, what do you care? At least I didn't stay, right?"  
  
"I know, but what if...what if Snape finds out that Koke lied to him? What if he gets really mad, and wants to challenge him to another duel?"  
  
Sighing with annoyance, Harry turned over in his bed. "Geez, Ron. You're starting to sound just like Hermione. Why don't we just go to sleep, okay?"  
  
"All right. Night, Harry."  
  
"Night, Ron."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
yeah...that's chapter numero ocho, dudes. 


	9. Jarveys and Patronuses

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Well, here's to another grand old day of double History of Magic," Ron sighed glumly the next morning.  
  
"I can't believe this," Hermione groaned. "This week has been terrible! Absolutely terrible, and I hardly ever complain!"  
  
"Well, on the bright side," said Harry. "We don't have potions today. And we also have Defense Against The Dark Arts."  
  
"You know," Hermione said, smiling a bit. "When she first came here, I had my doubts about Professor Harkinian and her teaching abilities. But now that we've had her a while, I think she's great!"  
  
"Yeah, AND she totally killed and humiliated Snape in that duel!" Ron laughed. "He can barely even be in the same room as her!"  
  
At the staff table, Snape and Zelda were currently sitting at completely opposite sides. There was no doubt that Snape loathed both Link and Zelda--possibly as much as he hated Harry (or slightly less so).  
  
It was one of the first days (if not THE first) that Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't have Potions. The class was getting more and more unbearable for Harry, now that Snape seemed to hate him even more than ever. If there was one thing Snape despised more than anything else, it was being humiliated.  
  
Harry shuddered slightly as he packed up his bag to go to Care of Magical Creatures. He remembered last year when he had gone into Snape's Pensieve. James Potter had embarressed and mortified Snape so much in his fifth year, it was almost unbearable. Harry was just grateful that his mother, Lily, had been there to bring peace.  
  
Since Ron had stopped to go to the bathroom, he, Harry and Hermione had to run a bit to get to Care of Magical Creatures. Everyone else was already there, waiting for them to come so they could start.  
  
"Today class, we're startin' somethin' new," announced Hagrid. "I figure that you were all fine with the Jobberknolls, so now we're gonna be workin' on these!" He pulled a long, skinny creature out of a metal box. "Jarveys!"  
  
The Jarvey strongly resembled a ferret, and Harry was almost sure that that was what it was. Then suddenly, the Jarvey walked up to Harry, and, in perfect English, sneered "Whatcha lookin' at, Scarface?!"  
  
Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins laughed. "That's great!" Malfoy cried. "A talking ferret that insults Potter!"  
  
Sniffing about, the jarvey slithered up to Malfoy. "I insult who I like, blubbermouth! Why don't you just shut that hole in your ugly face? And another question: who dyes your hair? You must tell me."  
  
"Why, you little!" Malfoy shouted, enraged. He lunged at the jarvey, who quickly scampered behind Ron.  
  
"Don't be hurtin' 'em!" Hagrid warned, scooping up the jarvey. "Now here, I gots a whole box of 'em. Eacha you'll be takin' one, drawin' a picture of it, and write down anything that it calls you. Got it?"  
  
"What?!" shrieked Pansy Parkinson. "Do you mean you just want us to sit around here and be insulted?!"  
  
"That's right, butthead!" snapped another jarvey, poking its head out of the box.  
  
"Oh yeah?" asked Pansy. The jarvey blinked, saying nothing. "Oh yeah?!" Pansy repeated. Still the jarvey remained silent. "Oh YEAH?!" Pansy bellowed, throwing her arms in the air for emphasis.  
  
"Ya got me," the jarvey drawled. "YEAH."  
  
The Gryffindors laughed a bit, each taking a jarvey in its hands and walking off to different patches of grass.  
  
"THIS JARVEY IS HURTING MY SELF-ESTEEM!!" wailed Lavender, tears welling up in her eyes.  
  
"Oh, stop being such a cry baby!" barked the jarvey.  
  
"Don' let 'em hurt ya verbally," Hagrid said, walking around. "These creatures are in the curriculum, so don't be gettin' mad at me fer makin' ya study 'em."  
  
"I like your hair," said Hermione's jarvey, "but I really think that you should give the elephant back its face."  
  
"OOH!" Hermione cried, scribbling down on a piece of paper. "What I would do to you if you weren't school property!!"  
  
"What? Start batting me with rouge!?"  
  
"SHUT IT!"  
  
***  
  
The rest of the class went pretty much...bad. The jarveys seemed impervious to any threat or insult. They threw every nasty word that came into their head at their student (Neville had once asked, "Should we write down what they say if it contains horribly terrible language?").  
  
"Well, look at it this way," said Ron, as they walked back to the castle. "Now we have a double period of History of Magic to look forward to! Isn't that exciting?"  
  
"The only thing exciting about it is the way that Binns enters through the room," Harry mumbled with annoyance. "He comes through the chalkboard, and the rest of class is like we're stuck in the doldrums."  
  
"And when are we ever going to need to know stuff like when Boggle the Barfing Mermaid started the first underwater train station? It's just pointless!"  
  
"You never know," came Hermione's response. "Maybe someday it'll all prove useful, and we'll be glad we learned it."  
  
"Right," sighed Ron sarcastically. "Like some crazy hobo is just going to walk up to us and offer us ten million galleons if we know why The odor of Olga drove off all the mosquitos of Paris in 1696."  
  
"Still," Hermione persisted. "You never know."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Neville, have you even been trying at all?" Zelda asked with exasperation.  
  
"I've tried!" Neville said helplessly, as a silver wisp in front of him diminished. "It just refuses to work for me! Look! EXPECTO PATRONUM!!" Another silvery orb shot out of his wand, but refused to take any definate shape.  
  
"All right Neville," Zelda sighed, sitting on top of her desk. "At least you tried."  
  
A Ravenclaw raised his hand. "Professor Harkinian?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Why is it that teachers are so hypocritical? I mean, they always say never to sit on your desk, and now you're sitting on yours!"  
  
Half the class cringed, as if expecting Zelda to explode and give the kid a week of detention. "I never said that," Zelda replied calmly. "If you want to sit on your desks, please go ahead. I have no intention of stopping you. As long as you're paying attention, who cares what you're sitting on?"  
  
There was a loud scraping noise as every student except Hermione pushed in their chairs and sat on top of their desks. She looked around her, trying to decide whether or not to abandon her dignity.  
  
"Don't feel obliged, Miss Granger," Zelda said smiling, as if she had been able to read Hermione's mind.  
  
"All right." Hermione stayed put in her chair.  
  
"Okay then. Mr. Weasley, how'd you like to show us all how you're Patronus is coming along?"  
  
"Sure." Ron nervously walked to the front of the room, lifting his wand. "Right...okay. Expecto Patronum!!!" A silver orb flashed.  
  
"Think happy thoughts, Ron," Zeld sang.  
  
"Right. Got it." Ron paused for a moment, racking his brain for a single happy memory. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!!"  
  
Suddenly, a huge silver substance shot out of the tip of Ron's wand. It seemed to start sprouting legs; limbs that were similar to those of a giant rat. Ron's eyes widened, and then his patronus suddenly vanished.  
  
"That was very good, Mr. Weasley," Zelda congratulated, writing something down. "Your patronus is beginning to take form!"  
  
Smiling proudly, Ron walked back to his desk. "Beat that," he mouthed smugly at a sulking Hermione. She promptly raised her hand.  
  
"Yes, Miss Granger?"  
  
"May I try and summon my patronus?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Certainly. Come on up here."  
  
Hermione walked to the head of the room. She'd been practicing very hard on her patronus, and Harry was certain she could do it.  
  
"Think happy thoughts," Hermione whispered to herself. "Think happy thoughts... EXPECTO PATRONUM!!"  
  
A burst of silver shot out of Hermione's wand, immediately taking the form of a giant tarantula. A few students laughed as Ron screamed and fell off his desk. Ron was infamous for being an arachnaphobe.  
  
The silver tarantula looked around (staring particularly hard at a petrified Ron), then disappated. Hermione headed back to her seat.  
  
"Well done, Miss Granger," Zelda said. "Ten points to Gryffindor!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
At dinner, Ron was still brooding. He'd been trying so hard to create a patronus, but it just hadn't worked out.  
  
"You're always so perfect at everything!" Ron shouted at Hermione. "I wish that for once, I could be the one impressing the teacher and you were the one sitting in the back, as stupid as Crabbe or Goyle!!"  
  
"Ron!" Hermione cried, highly offended. "You are NOT as stupid as Crabbe or Goyle, or even the two of them put together! I'm sorry that I keep on getting stuff right all the time! It's just what I'm like, okay?!"  
  
"Well am I supposed to be stupid all the time?!" Ron shouted.  
  
"Ron, that didn't make any sense," Harry cut in.  
  
"Oh sure, side with HER!" Ron erupted, standing up. "I am so tired of being overshadowed by you two! I'm going to bed!" Red-cheeked and fuming, he stormed out of the great hall.  
  
"Don't worry," Harry comforted Hermione. "He'll be over this grudge in the morning. He's just a little distressed at not being able to...well, you know, get something right for a chance. I'm not saying that Ron is stupid or anything, but he was right about you always getting attention."  
  
"Are you calling me a teacher's pet?!" Hermione demanded, standing up.  
  
"No, Hermione, I only--"  
  
"Sure! TAKE HIS SIDE!!" Hermione stalked out of the great hall, leaving an utterly confused and annoyed Harry.  
  
"What is WRONG with them?" he asked no one in particular.  
  
"I don't know," came a voice.  
  
Harry looked up, and noticed for the first time that evening that Ginny was sitting right across from him. "Oh, hi Ginny. I d-didn't see you."  
  
"That's okay," said Ginny, shrugging. "But I have a question. Is it really true that Hermione summoned a patronus too?"  
  
"What d'you mean 'too'?"  
  
"Well I mean, you can make a patronus, right? So what I'm asking is if Hermione can make one as well?"  
  
"Oh, yeah. And you'll never guess what it turned into!" Harry laughed.  
  
"What?" asked Ginny, smiling.  
  
"A tarantula!"  
  
Ginny leaned back in her chair, laughing. "I'll bet Ron was scared out of his wits!"  
  
"You'd better believe it."  
  
"Oh, I wish I could've seen his face! That must've been hilarious! Ron's been afraid of all kinds of spiders ever since he was little. Maybe that's why he's so mad at Hermione."  
  
"I doubt it," sighed Harry, shrugging. "But personally, I don't see why Ron is so upset. His patronus is a lot better than some other people's. It started to sprout legs, but before it could finish, it vanished."  
  
"What did the legs look like?"  
  
"Rat legs."  
  
"Ah." Ginny looked down at her feet, and started to blush. "Uh, I don't know if you noticed, but...erm...th-the next Hogsmeade visit is next weekend, and I...er..." If it was even possible, Ginny got redder. "I wanted to know if you'd go with me."  
  
Surprised by this sudden subject change, Harry was lost for words. He tried to speak, but no words came out. "Uh...I-I knew about it, but, uh..."  
  
Looking mortified, Ginny quickly tried to stand up. "I'm so sorry, Harry. I shouldn't have even--"  
  
"N-no," Harry said, grabbing Ginny's arm to stop her. "No, I want t...I'll go with you, Ginny. I'd love to."  
  
"Really? Oh, thanks a million, Harry!" Smiling involuntarily, Ginny (still brick red) ran from the Great Hall.  
  
"What was that all about?" came a voice.  
  
Harry turned around, and looked up to see Cho Chang. His cheeks flushed slightly scarlet. "Oh, hey, Cho."  
  
"Hi. Harry, I don't know if you noticed, but they...um...there's a Hogsmeade visit coming up next weekend, and I was wondering if you'd...go with me."  
  
"What, don't you have Michael?" Harry asked flatly.  
  
"No, as a matter of fact, I don't," Cho replied, trying not to look hurt. "We broke up a while ago. If you don't want to go with me, you could've just told me."  
  
"Cho, it's not that I don't want to go with you, it's just that...I already told Ginny Weasley that I'd go with her. I'm sorry."  
  
"O-oh..." Harry had been half expecting Cho to get angry again, but she sounded calm and relaxed. "Well, that's too bad. I would've liked to have gone with you."  
  
"Hey, wait!" Harry called after Cho, as she started walking away. "Maybe we could all...you know, go together. The three of us. And then maybe Ron and Hermione could come with us too!" He looked at her hopefully.  
  
Appearing to be thinking, Cho put a finger to her chin. Then she smiled. "Well...if... you know, Ginny and the others don't mind, I'd like to come with you!"  
  
"I'm sure they'll be fine with it," said Harry. "Well, b-bye. I've gotta be getting back to the common room. I need to sort out a fight between Ron and Hermione."  
  
"Okay." Cho smiled at Harry one more time, then walked back to the Ravenclaw table, sticking her tongue out at Michael on the way.  
  
Feeling lighter than air, Harry walked out of the great hall happily. In wouldn't take very long for Ron and Hermione to be back on speaking terms again. And, with Cho going with them all to Hogsmeade, Harry was looking forward to the trip more than ever.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
im just curious: do u think that harry should get 2gether w/ ginny or cho? and dont 4get 2 review, people!! 


	10. The Badger vs The Lion

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Ron, you just keep playing now like you have throughout all our practices, okay?" said Alica.  
  
"Got it."  
  
It was the first Quidditch game of the year: Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff. Harry was a bit disappointed that it wasn't against Slytherin, but he was grateful to at least be playing in a game at all.  
  
"So we've gone over all our strategies," Alicia mumbled worriedly, as if counting something on her fingers.  
  
"Alica, don't worry," said Katie. "I'm sure we'll do just fine. You know that those Hufflepuffs are the easiest team to beat! They're too soft! They're afraid of the ball! It'll be a cinch--stop biting your fingernails."  
  
"What about their beaters, though?" Alicia asked nervously. "They've got two of the toughest, best beaters around!!"  
  
"Hey, that's insulting," Seamus sniffed. "You think that the Hufflepuff beaters are better than we are."  
  
"Well, they've both been playing longer than you have, and I've played them several times before. Just prepare yourselves." A loud whistle sounded. "Well, that's our cue, fellow Gryffindors. Let's go!"  
  
The stadium erupted with cheers as the Gryffindor team walked out onto the field. More cheers came once the Hufflepuffs arrived.  
  
"All right!" said Madame Hooch. "Captains, shake hands!" They quickly did so. "Mount your brooms!"  
  
Harry's heart pounded wildly as he stepped onto his broom. Finally, he was playing Quidditch again.  
  
"On my whistle, then!" shouted Madame Hooch. "One! Two! Three!" She blew hard onto her whistle. The fifteen brooms launched into the air, and the Quaffle was released.  
  
"Welcome everyone to the first Quidditch game of the year!" shouted Lee Jordan into his megaphone. "It's Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff! It seems that on the Gryffindor team, Fred and George Weasley have been replaced by Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas! Our former Chaser (and team captain) Anglina Johnson (who, as far as I know, STILL won't go out with me) has been replaced by Fred and George's sister, Ginny Weasley!!"  
  
Hermione clapped wildly. Quidditch games were still fun to watch for her, but now she didn't have Ron to talk to about them. She jumped when Hagrid sat down next to her.  
  
"Haven't missed much, 'ave I?" he asked.  
  
"They only just started," answered Hermione."  
  
"And Chaser Katie Bell has the Quaffle, flying towards the Hufflepuff goals with great acceleration. Quickly passes the ball to Alica Spinnet, who prepares to throw the Quaffle! OH NO!! A bludger has come zooming out of no where from a no-good, dirty, stinking rotten Hufflepuff beater!!"  
  
"JORDAN!" Professor McGonagall screeched. "You can't make biased comments!!"  
  
"Right, sorry Professor. Anyhow, Spinnet drops the Quaffle to Ginny Weasley, who throws it towards the hoop. She shoots, and SHE SCORES! TEN POINTS FOR THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM!!!"  
  
"Nice one, Ginny!" Katie congratulated.  
  
"Thanks!"  
  
Harry sat on his broom, above the game. His eyes darted constantly around the field, hoping for the tiniest glimpse of gold. He flew down a bit lower, scanning the air beneath him. It was there, somewhere.  
  
Grinning, a Hufflepuff player zoomed towards the Gryffindor goal posts. Ron looked ready. Or at least he tried to. The Quaffle soared towards the hoop on his left. He quickly flew towards the ball and hit it back towards the field.  
  
"And Weasley has the Quaffle, having caught it from Weasley, and she now streaks down the field. She passes it to Spinnet, who passes it to Bell, who shoots! Oh, would you just look at that? She missed."  
  
The Hufflepuff keeper hurled the Quaffle to the middle of the field, and one of the Chasers on his team caught it. They flew back towards Ron, smiling menacingly. In one swift movement, he made the shot.  
  
"Ten points to Hufflepuff!" shouted Lee. "And the Quaffle goes to Spinnet, who heads for the goal posts. She shoots, and misses! My, what a shame!!"  
  
A few minutes later, Hufflepuff led the game 40 to 20.  
  
"Ron, come on!" Hermione cried, waving her Gryffindor flag. "You can do it! I know you can! JUST BLOCK THE STUPID QUAFFLE!!"  
  
"Calm down, Hermione," said Hagrid. "It ain't as easy as it looks, you know."  
  
"But Hagrid, I know that Ron can do better! I've seen him at practices! He's a really great Keeper, but he's getting scared with all these people watching him! He's under a lot of undue pressure!!"  
  
"I know," sighed Hagrid. "We'll just have ter hope fer the best, I 'spose."  
  
"Come on, come, where are you?!" Harry whispered to himself, looking vainly around for the Snitch. "You aren't afraid, are you?!"  
  
"You know, I think Qudditch is a very interesting sport," Zelda said to Link. "I mean, who would've thought? Playing a game on broomsticks!"  
  
"Yeah, I wonder how they ever came up with the idea?" Link wondered. "Impa would go completely beserk if she saw this! But in a good way, of course. I don't think she ever fathomed people flying around on brooms!"  
  
"And another ten points to Gryffindor!" announced Lee. "Which makes the score 40--30, still Hufflepuff!"  
  
Suddenly, Harry streaked towards the ground as fast as he could. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Hufflepuff seeker following him. All eyes were on them.  
  
"It seems that Harry Potter has seen the Snitch!" cried Lee with excitement. "But it also seems that Ernie McMillan is hot on his tail!"  
  
"You're wasting your time, Potter!" snarled Ernie, squinting hard.  
  
"Am I?" Harry asked, grinning. Ernie was looking around wildly for the Snitch. In another sudden moment, Harry pulled out of the dive seconds before he hit the ground. Ernie, of course, crashed into the ground.  
  
"THAT WAS AMAZING!!" shouted Lee. "A PERFECT WRONSKI FEINT, PERFORMED BY POTTER!!"  
  
Several groans came from the Hufflepuff side of the stadium, as Madame Pomfrey rushed onto the field. She pulled up Ernie's arm, and saw blood flowing from his nose and mouth. Muttering something, the school nurse. tapped his face with her wand, and all the blood vanished.  
  
"And thank you for Madame Pomfrey for healing McMillan!" Lee shouted, though his eye was twitching. "So, as McMillan gets back into the game, the Quaffle is in Spinnet's possession..."  
  
"Did you see that?!" Hermione cried, standing up. "He did the Winky Fant!"  
  
"It's called the Wronski Feint, Hermione," sighed Lavender Brown, who was seated right next to her.  
  
"Oh, well, uh...yeah, that's what I meant!"  
  
"The Quaffle is intercepted by Hufflepuff chaser Abbott, who flies towards the Gryffindor goal posts! And a bludger comes flying towards her, hit excellently by the new Gryffindor beater, Dean Thomas!  
  
"Swerving out of the way, Abbott accidentally drops the Quaffle! It's picked up by Gryffindor Chaser Bell, who speeds towards the Hufflepuff goal posts! She passes to Spinnet, who passes back. Weasley flies towards Bell and Spinnet to join them, as Bell prepares to shoot! Now--HEY!! THAT WAS AN ILLEGAL MOVE!!! YOU--"  
  
McGonagall grabbed the megaphone away from Lee, who had started swearing loudly (and crudely).  
  
One of the Hufflepuff Beaters had hit a bludger towards Ginny, who had innocently been sitting on her broom in mid-air. The bludger missed Ginny, but hit her broomstick, causing her to slide off the end.  
  
Harry immediately withdrew his attention from looking for the Snitch, and he dove directly towards Ginny. He reached out a hand for her, and she grabbed it. His muscles straining, Harry pulled Ginny onto his broomstick in front of him.  
  
"Ginny, are you all right?!"  
  
"I-I'm fine, Harry," she whispered, still looking terrified. "B-but Harry, I saw it! I mean the Snitch! Look, it's right there next to Katie's leg!"  
  
While everyone else had had their eyes on Ginny and Harry, Abbott had scored three more times. They couldn't afford to lose.  
  
"Hang on, Ginny!" Harry whispered. "We're going to win this game!" He shot towards Katie, who was still ignorant to the fact that the Snitch was floating right next to her. Seeing Harry (and Ginny, of course) speeding towards her, she dropped down a bit.  
  
"I've got it!" Harry thought, his arm reaching forward. The Snitch looked quickly around, as if trying to find an escape route. But before it could dart off again, Harry's fingers closed around it.  
  
"AND POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH!!" Lee bellowed. "HE GETS 150 POINTS FOR HIS TEAM!! GRYFFINDOR WINS THE MATCH!!"  
  
Cheers exploded from the Gryffindors, and some of the Ravenclaws (including Luna Lovegood, who was once again sporting her roaring Lion hat).  
  
Harry was the first player to the ground, gently pulling Ginny off his broom. She tried to stand, but her feet gave way, and she fell back to the ground. She tried standing again, but it was in vain.  
  
"I think my feet are broken," she sniffed, scrunching her eyes shut. "Before the bludger flew back off, it hit both of them. Oh, G--"  
  
Professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey both rushed up to Harry and Ginny. "Weasley, are you all right?!" McGonagall asked breathlessly.  
  
Madame Pomfrey touched Ginny's feet gently, making the girl wince slightly. "I think she'll be all right," the nurse said, conjuring up a magical stretcher. "But she can't walk, so I'd better take her back to the Hospital wing."  
  
As Pomfrey walked away with Ginny (on the stretcher), Ron and Hermione came running up. "Harry, I can't believe it!" Ron squeaked, looking very pale. "Ginny could've died, and you saved her life!"  
  
"No, not really," Harry said, now starting to think. "I was just thinking quickly, like Ginny had no other chance. But now that I think about it, McGonagall or someone could've done something to help."  
  
"Still, you were risking a lot," said Hermione. "But she'll be okay, right?"  
  
"Yeah," Harry answered.  
  
"But Harry," said Ron, grinning a bit. "That Wronski Feint was amazing! I bet Krum himself couldn't have done better! You had me totally fooled!"  
  
"Me too!" Hermione added. "You even had the same look of determination that you have when you see the Snitch! I was watching you with binoculars, you know. I think Hagrid was impressed too!"  
  
"Well, it all came from watching Vicky," Harry said, making Ron laugh.  
  
"Oh, give it a rest, will you?!" Hermione screeched, her happy attitude suddenly gone. "His name is Viktor, and I never even ONCE called him VICKY!!"  
  
"Who's Vicky?" asked Katie, walking towards them with the rest of the team. "Harry, that was awesome!!"  
  
"The Wronski Feint, or the fact that he saved my sister?" asked Ron.  
  
"Both!" Dean responded.  
  
"And guess what happened to that Hufflepuff beater?" Seamus laughed. "McGonagall got so mad at him, she's giving him five weeks of detention, and banning him from the next Quidditch game!!"  
  
"Well, he deserved it!" Alicia sniffed. "Ginny didn't even do anything! She was just floating there, and he hit it towards her--ON PURPOSE!!"  
  
"At least she'll be okay," sighed Hermione with relief. "But I was worried there, for a minute, I must admit."  
  
"C'mon, let's all go to dinner," suggested Katie. "I'm starving."  
  
Harry was about to follow the group, when someone roughly grabbed his shoulder. He turned around and saw Malfoy--as usual, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.  
  
"Well, if it isn't the little hero," Malfoy sneered. "Always having to save the day for his girlfriend, right?"  
  
"Shut up, Malfoy."  
  
"You really think you're something, don't you, Potter?"  
  
"I am something. I'm a human. I'm a boy. I'm a wizard. And you, Malfoy, are a little piece of dirt."  
  
"Take that back, you Mudblood!" Malfoy growled, pulling out his wand and pointing it at Harry (who seemed undaunted).  
  
"Put back that wand of yours, Malfoy!" came a voice.  
  
Harry, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle turned in unison to see Zelda. "What buisiness do you think you've got trying to curse Potter?"  
  
"He insulted me, Professor," Malfoy stated calmly, slipping his wand slowly back into his pocket.  
  
"Did he really?" Zelda asked. "And what, Mr. Malfoy, could have possibly intrigued Potter to insult you?" She looked expectantly at him.  
  
Malfoy tried to talk. His mouth opened slightly, then he clamped it shut again. Grimacing darkly at Harry, he and his cronies stormed away.  
  
"So, what was that really all about?" Zelda asked, putting an arm around Harry's shoulder as they walked back to the castle. "Was Malfoy telling the truth?"  
  
"No, he...well...kind of. But he was the one that attacked me first, Professor!"  
  
"Yes, I didn't think you were the type just to shoot things out there. I assume that he thought you were a little goody-two-shoes hero, and started making fun of you, saying that Weasley was your girlfriend, and all that. Right?"  
  
Harry's mouth dropped. "How did you know?"  
  
Zelda smiled, laughing a bit. "I'm only twenty-three, Harry. I got out of school just a few years ago. I know what bullies are like. But if you want to know my opinion, I think what you did was very brave."  
  
Once they walked into the great hall, Zelda winked at Harry and headed towards the staff table. Harry walked towards Ron and Hermione, who had saved a seat for him.  
  
"What took you so long?" asked Neville.  
  
"Malfoy," Harry answered simply. "He tried to start a fight with me, but Harkinian came and stopped the madness."  
  
"Luckily for you," Ron said.  
  
"And I guess we were right when we thought she was young," Harry said to Ron and Hermione. "She's only twenty-three. And guess what else she said?"  
  
"What?" asked Hermione and Ron in unison.  
  
"She said she thinks I'm brave."  
  
"Oh, come ON, Harry," Hermione sighed. "Every teacher thinks you're brave."  
  
"Yeah, but Harkinian's never said it before!" Ron said excitedly. "Wow, Harry! You're so lucky! I wish she'd say something like that to me."  
  
Harry was now focusing more on eating his food. Like Katie had said earlier, the Quidditch game had left him exhausted and starving.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
pleez dont kill me if u didnt like this chapter. but also pleez review! 


	11. Errol and Music class

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Hey, look Ron," said Hermione at breakfast a few days later. "It's Errol!"  
  
Ron and Harry looked up as the Weasley's owl flew towards their table. Wheezing slightly, the bird crashed face-first into Harry's oatmeal.  
  
"Poor bloke," Ron sighed, pulling poor Errol out of his friend's bowl. "Sorry about that, Harry. But hey, look!" Ron pulled off the letter that was attatched to his owl's foot. "The letter's for you!"  
  
"Go on, open it," urged Hermione, as Harry took the envelope.  
  
"Ron, it's a letter from your mum," Harry said.  
  
"What's it say?" asked Hermione and Ron together.  
  
"'Dear Harry,  
  
I sent you this letter as fast as I could. I just received a letter from Professor Koke telling me the events of your first Quidditch match.  
  
I am so glad that the Professor told me of what you did for Ginny! My poor only daughter could've died, and you were the one that saved her! It took me a moment to take in the fact that Ginny plummeted hundreds of feet, and almost to her death. No words can express my thanks to you!  
  
When you see Ginny, tell her I'm thinking of her and that I love her (you can tell that to Ron too, but under the current circumstances, I'm very concerned about Ginny. By the way Ron, if you're reading this; which you probably are; congratulations on winning the game). Thank you so much again, Harry!  
  
Love, Molly Weasley  
  
P.S. I tried sending some mince pies, but Errol could barely stand up with them attatched to his leg, so I hope this letter is enough.  
  
Harry finished reading the letter. Ron smiled a bit, and Hermione was grinning.  
  
"That was very thoughtful of Professor Koke, wasn't it?" she said.  
  
"I don't know," Harry whispered, thinking for a minute. "Do you think that he really needed to alarm Mrs. Weasley like that?"  
  
"Alarm her?" Ron asked incredulously. "Don't be a prat, Harry! If Koke didn't tell mum, I would have! Or Ginny would have! I think he did the right thing. Mum's right to thank you."  
  
"Maybe you're right," Harry laughed.  
  
Ron, Hermione and Harry stared down at Errol, who had started coughing and making hacking noises.  
  
"Errol!" Ron cried, scooping up his owl. "Errol, are you okay?!"  
  
In response, the bird looked sorrowfully at the students around him, and his eyes slowly closed.  
  
"ERROL!" Ron shouted. "Errol, you can't die!!"  
  
Ginny (now fully healed) snatched the owl out of her hysterical brother's arms. "He's not dead, Ron! I can hear a heartbeat! I've got to get him to Hagrid, quick!" Tripping a bit in her haste, Ginny rushed out of the Great Hall.  
  
Ron looked down at his breakfast glumly. Harry and Hermione glanced at each other, worried. "What if Errol dies?" Ron choked. "What am I going to do?"  
  
"Don't worry about Errol, Ron," Hermione comforted him, putting an arm around his shoulder. "Hagrid'll fix him up. He'll be fine." She kissed Ron's cheek softly.  
  
"But what if his case is beyond Hagrid's hands?! What if there's no hope!? Percy's the only one who's got another owl in our family, and he'd never give it to mum, and she needs an owl! I mean, it's not like Percy couldn't afford his own, now! Errol's going to die, I know he is! I've got to go see Hagrid!" He too ran out of the hall.  
  
"I hope Errol's all right," Harry sighed, pushing his oatmeal (now covered in feathers) aside. "Errol was more than just an owl that delivered mail, he was like Scabbers. Ron kept on complaining, but he'll be sorry if Errol goes. At least he'll have Pigwidgeon."  
  
"Harry, stop using pre-tense words," Hermione whispered. "You make it sound as if he's dead already!"  
  
"It's no use, Hermione," Harry decided. "Errol's been sick and weak for as long as I can remember. He can't last much longer."  
  
Hermione stared at her feet. "I hope Ron takes this okay. You remember how angry and upset he was when Scabbers turned out to be a human. I think you're right, Harry."  
  
"Well, c'mon," Harry said, grabbing his bag. "We'd better not be late for Transfiguration."  
  
"I hope McGonagall will understand," Hermione sighed, as they walked down the hallway. "Ron might be a bit late."  
  
"She'll understand," Harry said firmly. "McGonagall may be strict and tough sometimes, but I know she'll be okay with this."  
  
Harry and Hermione took their seats in the front of the classroom. Some of the other students filed in.  
  
"And where is Mr. Weasley this morning?" McGonagall asked, peering down at Hermione and Harry over her glasses.  
  
"Er-well he.it's his owl," Harry answered. "He's terribly sick, and Ron's afraid that he may be close to dying. He took him to see Hagrid."  
  
McGonagall's expression was difficult to read. "If Mr. Weasley does not return to class, please tell him that I am quite sorry about his owl's misfortune." She swept to the front of the class, leaving a dumbstruck Harry and Hermione.  
  
"All right class," said McGonagall, sounding a bit tired. "Today we will continue with the Strauss spells."  
  
Harry glanced at the crow in front of his desk. It stared into his eyes, leering at him. Hermione looked at the pigeon placed in front of her.  
  
"You may begin."  
  
"Last time I had that pigeon," Neville said to Hermione. "She's a pretty tricky one, if you ask me."  
  
"We'll see about that," Hermione said curtly. "I think I may have this Strauss thing down." She raised her wand and pointed it at the pigeon. "Strauss Composius!" With a swish of her wand, Hermione's bird turned abruptly into a flute.  
  
"I can't believe it," Neville snorted. "That pigeon's more trouble that it's worth, and you got the spell to work. Now I'm stuck with a turkey." Neville flicked his wand, saying, "Strauss Composius!" The turkey's neck was replaced with that of a violin, and his eyes turned into the tuners on such an instrument.  
  
"Longbottom, what've you done now?" McGonagall asked with exasperation, walking towards Neville. "I see you've only managed to turn part of your turkey into a violin. That will not do." She waved her wand, and the turkey turned back to normal.  
  
"I must've moved my wand wrong," Neville mumbled, glaring at his turkey with great dislike.  
  
"Potter, let's see how you're coming along," McGonagall said.  
  
Gulping, Harry pointed his wand at the crow. "Strauss Composius!" His bird quickly formed into the shape of a clarinet.  
  
McGonagall picked it up smiling. Then she dropped it from surpsrise. She frowned at Harry. "Potter, I just saw the crow's eyes staring up at me from one of the pad holes. Please try again!"  
  
"Strauss-"  
  
"MISS BROWN!" McGonagall suddenly shouted, storming to the other side of the room. "You are supposed to be turning that peacock into a tambourine, not intriguing it to show off its tail feathers!!"  
  
Harry sank down into his chair, as the clarinet turned back into a crow. "I'll never get this thing down."  
  
"Oh Harry, it's easy," said Hermione, changing the flute into a pigeon and back again. "You almost had it. Maybe you should swish your wand with more gusto."  
  
"More gusto?!" Harry laughed. "I'm trying to turn it into a clarinet, I don't want to chop its head off."  
  
"All right. But if you don't keep practicing, when are you going to master the spell?"  
  
"Nevermore!" cried the raven. Harry and Hermione's heads snapped towards it.  
  
"That was freaky," Harry said. Then, determinedly, he pointed his wand at the crow, swishing it with enthusiasm, and cried, "Strauss Composius!" The crow immediately turned back into a clarinet.  
  
Hermione picked it up, looking through all the holes. "Looks pretty good, Harry! I think you've got it!"  
  
"Excellent, Potter," said McGonagall, walking towards them again. "Ten points to Gryffindor! And ten for you as well, Miss Granger."  
  
"Way to go, Harry!" said Neville, subconsciously swishing his wand towards the turkey. With a sudden "buh-gawk," the turkey turned into a set of bagpipes. The musical instrument suddenly started levitating, playing an Irish folk tune.  
  
"Longbottom, what did you do?!" McGonagall asked desperately. "Turkeys are supposed to turn into violins or cellos, not BAGPIPES!!"  
  
"I'm sorry, Professor!" Neville squeaked. "I didn't mean to, honest!"  
  
Sighing with annoyance, McGonagall turned the turkey back to its regular state. "I know that even YOU can do this, Longbottom. It really isn't that hard!!"  
  
"STRAUSS COMPOSIUS!!" Neville suddenly yelled, clamping his eyes shut and swishing his wand. There was a cracking noise, and he opened his eyes hopefully.  
  
The turkey was still there. But where McGonagall had previously stood, there was an assortment of bongo and congo drums. The class rolled with laughter, as Neville's eyes popped out of his head.  
  
A few seconds later, McGonagall turned back to human form. She glared at Neville, who had sunken very low into his chair. Then suddenly (and quite unexpectedly), the professor laughed. "You know, I've never been turned into a musical instrument before!" she chuckled. "Good show, Longbottom. Five points for Gryffindor!!"  
  
"What?!" Neville cried in astonishment, as McGonagall walked away. "Did she.I just.I got us five points!"  
  
"Wow, that was great, Neville!" Harry cried, patting him on the back. "I think McGonagall really needed a laugh!"  
  
**  
  
After class, Harry ran into Ginny.  
  
"Oh, sorry Harry," she whispered.  
  
"Ginny, what's wrong?" Harry asked. Her eyes were a bit red, and she looked extremely depressed. "It's Errol, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes," she sniffed, wiping away a tear. "I just feel so terrible! Mum's had Errol for as long as I can remember, and now he's gone! Died delivering a letter about me! Oh Harry, I feel so guilty!"  
  
"Don't blame yourself," Harry comforted, putting his arms around Ginny awkwardly. "Errol's been old and sick for some time, now. It's not your fault."  
  
"I suppose you're right," Ginny said, breaking away from Harry. "I'm just worried about what Mum's reaction will be."  
  
"I'll send Hedwig to tell her," Harry said.  
  
"Thanks Harry.I'd better be going to Potions." Blushing a bit, Ginny headed towards the direction of the dungeons.  
  
"C'mon Harry," said Hermione, grinning a bit. "We don't want to be late for Herbology." The two of them walked out of the castle.  
  
"Poor Mrs. Weasley," Harry sighed.  
  
"I know," Hermione said wistfully. "I wonder how Ron is taking this."  
  
At that moment, Ron walked up to them from Hagrid's cabin. He too looked down in the dumps, but apparently hadn't cried (or at least not that much).  
  
"Errol died," he said simply.  
  
"We know," Harry said. "Ginny told us."  
  
"I always thought Errol was such a bloody nuisance," Ron sniffed. "I feel like we just took him for granted, and now he's gone! Hagrid tried his best, but Errol just.we were too late. I think that last trip finally knocked the wind out of his sails."  
  
"We're so sorry, Ron," Hermione whispered. "Harry's going to send your mum a letter about Errol."  
  
"No, let me send Pig," Ron sighed, as they walked into the greenhouse. "I want to do it. It might make.mum.you know, I think she may want to hear it from me."  
  
"All right," Harry consented quietly. "Whatever you think is best, Ron."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
I hope you don't mind that Errol died-I've always loved him too! 


	12. Harry's Dream

That night, Harry had a very strange dream.  
  
He was in a very dark classroom. He could hear murmuring voices, that sounded happy and cheerful. Suddenly, a spotlight appeared out of no where, revealing Cho in a sparkling pink dress-playing an electric keyboard.In another corner, a spotlight showed Hermione wailing on a saxophone. Suddenly, a disco ball dropped out of the ceiling, and the room seemed to explode with light.  
  
Harry arched an eyebrow and his mouth dropped. Smiling gleefully in the middle of the room, Professor McGonagall (who seemed to have turned thirty years younger) was wearking a luminous purple gown-doing disco. She tried to get Harry to join her, and for the first time, he noticed that he was wearing a white disco outfit.  
  
"C'mon, Harry!" McGonagall laughed. "DISCO WITH ME!"  
  
"Professor, what're you doing?" Harry finally asked.  
  
"Don't ask stupid questions!" exclaimed Ron, coming up from behind Harry. He was wearing huge pink glasses, a blue disco suit, and his hair had turned into an afro (making it look like he had just been electrocuted). "Just dance!" Ron walked up to McGonagall and started dancing to the disco.  
  
Harry was quite confused. Then someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was Malfoy. "Follow the yellow brick road!"  
  
"What?!" Harry asked, extremely lost.  
  
"Follow the yellow brick road!" Crabbe repeated.  
  
"Follow the yellow brick road?!"  
  
"Follow the yellow brick road!" Goyle reiterated.  
  
It was then that Harry realized the hallway outside of the classroom had turned a bright yellow color. Deciding it would be best to listen to Malfoy, Harry followed the hall.  
  
"I'VE GOT IT!!" a voice screamed from behind a partially closed door. Harry glanced inside. Filch, Snape, Link and Zelda were all crowded around a small table.  
  
"Well, what's your guess?" Zelda asked.  
  
"It was Mrs. White in the Kitchen with the Revolver!" Snape shouted. He quickly opened the small brown envelope.  
  
"Are you right?" Filch asked.  
  
"NO!" Snape shouted angrily, stuffing the cards back into the envelope. "I WAS SO POSITIVE!! CURSE THAT STUPID MRS. WHITE! I HATE THAT M- "  
  
"Hey, don't give anything away," Zelda interrupted. "We're still playing."  
  
"Oh, hi Potter!" Link called out. "Want to come join us?"  
  
"Er-no thanks," Harry responded quickly, walking away. He continued to walk down the yellow hallway. That was very strange. Why were they playing a Muggle game? He recognized it immediately as Clue-something that Aunt Petunia had always liked playing with Dudley.  
  
Faint music was coming from behind another door. Harry walked towards it, but something was telling him to keep walking down the path. Stuffing his hands in his pocket, Harry kept strolling.  
  
The yellow hallway suddenly stopped in front of a large door. Harry cautiously opened it and peered inside.  
  
Wearing a kilt, a beret, and smoking a large pipe, Dumbledore was levitating in the middle of the room-meditating.  
  
"Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked blankly.  
  
"Don't interrupt his concentration," came a voice from the shadows. "Dumbledore is currently deep into mediatation, not thinking about anything. He has cleared his mind of all thoughts, and is quite ignorant to the fact that we're in this room. Um, nice disco outfit, by the way."  
  
"But why is Dumbledore wearing a-"  
  
"Gannondorf!" snarled the voice. "Have you gotten that thing yet?!"  
  
"It's not as easy as it looks, Voldemort. YOU try it."  
  
And suddenly, Harry woke up. Sweating and panting, he put on his glasses. That dream made absolutely no sense.  
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione had stopped trying to research Gannondorf a long time ago-ever since they found out that not even Madame Pince could help them, they gave up desperately.  
  
But there he had been, in that dream.with Voldemort.what did it mean?  
  
And had Dumbledore been meditating? Why had been McGonagall been dancing to disco music? What was with Ron's hair? Harry pounded his head with his fists, leaning back onto his pillow. He had so many questions to ask, but no one to ask them to.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
In the morning, Harry nearly fell asleep twice at breakfast.  
  
"Harry, are you feeling all right?" Hermione asked with concern. "You seem really tired. And you keep dozing off."  
  
"I just had this weird dream that kept me up all night," Harry mumbled. "I lay in bed thinking about it for so long, and it seems like I barely got any sleep."  
  
"Was.You-Know-Who in the dream?" Ron asked, cracking his knuckles. "Those are the kind that normally keep you up."  
  
"He was in it, but only towards the end for a few seconds," Harry responded. "And Gannondorf was with him!"  
  
"I almost forgot about Gannondorf!" Hermione exclaimed, dropping her fork. "Harry, what do you think it means? What if.what if he and.Voldemort are working together?!"  
  
"I don't even want to think about that," Harry whispered. "But the rest of my dream made no sense.it was all so RANDOM and weird!"  
  
"Why, what happened?" Hermione asked seriously.  
  
"Well, it started out in a dark room. Then I saw Cho playing the piano, you were playing a saxophone, Ron had an afro, and McGonagall was.dancing to disco music."  
  
"WHAT?!" Hermione laughed, pounding on the table. "McGonagall!? DISCO?!"  
  
"What's disco?" Ron asked. "Some kind of Muggle music?"  
  
"Um.yeah," Harry answered, smiling. "But anyway-oh, calm down, Hermione-next I saw Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. They told me to-"  
  
"Take a hike?" Ron asked.  
  
"No. They told me to follow the yellow brick road. Only the brick road was just a yellow hallway. So I walked down the hall, and in one room there was Snape, Filch, Koke, and Harkinian. They were playing a game of Clue."  
  
"It's a muggle game," Hermione explained to Ron, who looked very confused.  
  
"So anyway, I kept on going until the yellow hallway stopped at a door. When I opened it, I saw Dumbledore meditating and wearing a kilt-" (Hermione and Ron tried their best not to interrupt by guffawing)"-and then I heard two voices from the shadows. One was Voldemort's, and the other was Gannondorf's."  
  
"What did they say?" Hermione asked.  
  
"I'm trying to remember.Voldemort asked Gannondorf if he had something, and then Gannondorf said it was hard to get.or something."  
  
Hermione suddenly gasped. "I love that movie," she whispered.  
  
"What're you talking about?" Ron asked.  
  
"It's a Muggle past-time," Harry exclaimed. "And the yellow brick road is from this movie called The.oh, forget it."  
  
"Good. I will."  
  
"Harry, what could that dream possibly have meant?" Hermione asked. "I don't get it at all.especially the disco part. I've never touched a saxophone in my life."  
  
"Potter, Weasley, Granger," came a voice. The three of them looked up and saw Malfoy, with Crabbe and Goyle at his sides.  
  
"What d'you want, Malfoy?" Hermione asked bitterly.  
  
"I was just curious about something, Mudblood," Malfoy responded. "I was just walking by a few minutes ago, and I heard you say my name in a whisper. What exactly were you saying about me?"  
  
"If you were really curious, why didn't you demand to know on the spot?" Harry asked coolly.  
  
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Ron asked. "He wouldn't dare approach us without having his two body guards next to him."  
  
"What'd you say, Weasley?!" Malfoy growled.  
  
"You heard me!"  
  
Instantly, Crabbe and Goyle leapt on top of Ron, shoving him to the ground. Hermione shrieked and leapt back. "Harry, DO SOMETHING!"  
  
"Can't you?!" he cried, diving into his robes to find his wand.  
  
Both Crabbe and Goyle were too stupid to be able to use their wands on Ron. Instead, they used their physical strength.  
  
"Get off him!" Ginny yelled, running up to the fight from the other end of the table. "Get off, you freaks!"  
  
"Ginny, stay back!" Harry yelled, finally having found his wand. "They'll only hurt you, too! They won't be scard to!"  
  
"Good old Potter," Malfoy snickered. "We couldn't let anything happen to your little girlfriend, could we?"  
  
"SHUT UP!" Ginny shouted. She turned to Crabbe and Goyle, wand out. Harry and Hermione also pulled out their wands.  
  
"STUPEFY!!" the three of them shouted together. Malfoy's eyes widened as both Crabbe and Goyle collapsed, knocked out cold. Silence rang throughout the hall.  
  
"You're in trouble now," Malfoy said darkly. Snape and McGonagall ran up to them.  
  
"What happened?!" Snape demanded.  
  
"What happened to Weasley?!" McGonagall cried. Ron had fainted, bruises and cuts all over his face.  
  
"Crabbe and Goyle tried killing him!" Ginny yelled, not at all frightened by what might happen to her. "I didn't want them to hurt Ron!"  
  
"Little girl," Snape growled. "Do you honestly think we would've let anything serious happen to your brother in our school?"  
  
"No one came!" Ginny shouted. Hermione and Harry would've contributed to the fight, but Ginny seemed to be doing fine on her own. She continued. "I told them to get off, I tried pulling them off, but nothing worked! We had to stupefy them!"  
  
Snape inhaled deeply, and turned to McGonagall. "Minerva, what do you think? Personally, I believe that Miss Weasley and-"  
  
"Detention," McGonagall replied, shaking. "A week's worth for all of them, except Crabbe and Goyle. Two for them. Fifteen points will be deducted from Gryffindor, and twenty from Slytherin. Get Crabbe, Goyle, and Weasley to the hospital wing immediately."  
  
Grumbling something under his breath, Snape went to get Madame Pomfrey. McGonagall stared sternly at Harry, Hermione and Ginny. "I believe what you did to defend Weasley was very brave of you, but I could not let it go without punishment."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
yay. Hurrah for Ginny. Sorry for those who don't like disco. 


	13. The Kitchen and Detention

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"I can't believe you guys got detention," Ron said. He, Harry and Hermione were walking out of the hospital wing. "It's not right."  
  
"No, I think they had a right to punish us," Hermione sighed. "We attacked two students-of course, they WERE bullying you."  
  
"Exactly," Ron responded. "You were only defending me."  
  
"Well, it doesn't matter now," Harry said. "We've got the detention, and we've lost the house fifteen points."  
  
"At least we're better off than Crabbe and Goyle," Hermione pointed out. "They've got TWO weeks of detention, and they lost twenty points for Slytherin. I'm glad McGonagall saw the light and had at least some justice done."  
  
"I'm just glad we've got a Slytherin-free day," Ron breathed. "Crabbe and Goyle are out to get me for sure."  
  
"Don't worry about it," Harry said. "If there's anyone they're after, it's probably Ginny. You saw the way she stood up to them and Snape! They think she fears nothing!"  
  
"She doesn't," Ron sighed, as they neared the Greenhouse for Herbology. "I haven't found anything on earth yet that she's afraid of! Well I mean, you know.besides, like, You-Know-Who coming back, but everyone's afraid of that."  
  
"I can just imagine Ginny coming to your rescue when a big icky spider came and fwightened wittle Ronny," Hermione mocked, using a baby tone of voice.  
  
"You know, that's the one thing I don't miss about Fred and George," Ron scoffed. "The way they'd always tease me. I don't need you two bringing back their old spirit and making fun of me!"  
  
"She was only joking, Ron," Harry laughed.  
  
"Words hurt," Ron sniffed.  
  
**  
  
"What is it you wanted me for?" Link asked, walking into Zelda's room and shutting the door behind him. "Sinistra said you wanted me."  
  
"I did," Zelda sighed. She picked up her wand. "I see you've done it already."  
  
"Of course. I do it every morning before I wake up! We can't take any chances, you know. It's much too risky waiting."  
  
"Ugh, I know. I had to wait for someone to walk by and ask them to get you behind a closed door."  
  
You may be wondering what Link and Zelda are talking about. There was one thing that made the two of them look different from humans: their ears.  
  
As you know, elf's ears are pointed. Human's ears are rounded. Every morning, Link and Zelda put a spell on their ears that rounded them off, making them look normal. If a student or teacher found out that they were elves, they'd be treated quite differently.  
  
"They've employed elves to work as servants here," Zelda told Link a while ago. "That's why we have to change what our ears look like-otherwise, we'll be given away."  
  
"Got it."  
  
Back to the present.  
  
"So anyway," Zelda sighed, walking up to Link. "I've forgotten the spell to change their appearance. I had a terrible sleep last night, and I'm too tired to remember it. Could you give me a hand?"  
  
"Sure." Link held his wand up to Zelda's ear, whispering something under his breath. He did the same to her other ear, and both instantly rounded off.  
  
"Thanks." Zelda whispered, writing the spell down on a piece of parchment and placing it inside her desk. "You know Link, I've been thinking."  
  
"About what?"  
  
"Well, I got a reliable tip-off that the elves who work here are in the kitchen," she responded quickly. "So I thought maybe I'd.you know, go down there and see what they're like in.this.world."  
  
"Wouldn't they look like us?" Link asked.  
  
"Probably, but I still want to see them!" Zelda said. "Will you come with me?"  
  
"Hmm.no."  
  
Zelda rolled her eyes, clasped her hands together, and went onto her knees. "Please, Link? I don't want to go alone, and besides-you're an elf too, so why don't you-"  
  
"Oh, fine. I'll come with you. Considering, of course, that you know where the kitchen is located."  
  
"Of course I do!" Zelda riposted, grabbing Link's hand and pulling him out the door. "We're just lucky that neither of us have classes right now.thanks!"  
  
"Your welcome," Link sighed, as Zelda dragged him down another corridor.  
  
A few minutes later, Link and Zelda stopped in front of a large painting depicting a bowl of fruit. Zelda reached up, tickled a pear that was in the picture, and the painting swung open like a door.  
  
"Look, 'tis the new Hogwarts teachers!" cried one elf. Link and Zelda's mouths dropped in unison.  
  
"They're so tiny," Link whispered, as about forty elves rushed up to them and bowed. "They look nothing like us!"  
  
"What could we be getting you?" asked an elf with a particularly long, pointy nose. He smiled, showing yellow rotting teeth.  
  
"U-uh." Zelda seemed to be in a state of shock. "Tea?" Two seconds later, three elves rushed up to her, holding a silver tray with a steaming cup of tea on it. "Th-thanks."  
  
"And what could we get you, Sir?" asked an elf with a tower of hats upon his head."  
  
"Um.how about chocolate soufflé?" Link challenged. To his surprise, an elf skipped up to him, holding a plate with the requested food on top of it.  
  
"How do they DO that?" Zelda marveled quietly. The elves looked up at them, still smiling brightly. "It's amazing!"  
  
"They look nothing like us!"  
  
"Link, you're repeating yourself."  
  
"So," Link said in a louder voice. "Do you all like it here at Hogwarts?" There were mutters of "yes" and "of course" and "how could we not?". Link went on. "Sooo.how often do leave the kitchen?"  
  
"Only at night sir," answered an elf with an Irish accent. "To stoke the fires, clean the beds, and sweep the rooms. We are seldom seen by wizards, sir."  
  
"Uh-huh," Zelda said, starting to step backwards. "Well, we're needed back at.our classrooms. Thank you so much, it was so nice meeting you!"  
  
"Please come again!" the elves chorused, waving good-bye.  
  
Zelda shut the kitchen door behind them. "Well, that was an interesting experience, wasn't it, Link?"  
  
"Not at all what I was expecting," Link admitted. "I guess these elves are very different from those in Hyrule."  
  
"It's very confusing, I agree."  
  
**  
  
"C'mon guys, let's go," Harry sighed. He walked out of the Gryffindor common room with Ginny and Hermione. The three of them walked cautiously into McGonagall's classroom. She looked up.  
  
"Right on time," she said, standing up and walking over to them. "I have been thinking for a while how I should punish you three. Much more trouble than it was worth. The only suggestions I got came from Filch, and his were rather.inhumane."  
  
Harry, Hermione, and Ginny exchanged glimpses.  
  
"So, I decided to have you all write an essay explaining how and why Rachel Hutchinson killed the first Minister of Magic. If you need them, I have placed textbooks on the desks, in three separate areas of the room. Please begin."  
  
Harry sat down at a desk. He looked in the book's index for Hutchinson. There was an entire twelve-page chapter on her! It would take him hours!  
  
"And for the record," McGonagall sighed. "This will be counted towards your grade."  
  
Ginny and Harry heard Hermione squeak with frightened excitement. It wasn't often that McGonagall assigned something out of a book. But then again, Harry thought, this WAS supposed to be a punishment.  
  
The sound of Hermione's quill scratching against parchment was becoming extremely irritating. It was constant, and was also constantly annoying both Ginny and Harry.  
  
"I'm lost!" Ginny mouthed to Harry.  
  
"So am I!" he mouthed back.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Ms. Weasley," rang out McGonagall's voice, breaking the silent conversation. She stopped reading her papers and continued to stare at them, making sure that they didn't communicate any more.  
  
An hour later, Hermione handed McGonagall her essay-ten pages long. She was curtly dismissed.  
  
Another hour later, Ginny and Harry handed in their (five page) reports. McGonagall gave them a suspicious look, then told them that they were free to go.  
  
"Sickly saplings," Ginny sighed, once she and Harry reached the Fat Lady's portrait. It swung open, revealing that Hermione and Ron were the only students left in the Gryffindor common room.  
  
"You two took forever," Hermione said cheerfully.  
  
"Yeah. Thanks," Ginny said, walking directly to the girls' dormitory. Harry collapsed onto a chair next to Ron.  
  
"Sorry, mate," Ron apologized. "I feel like I'm the one that got you guys messed up in all this."  
  
"It's all right Ron," Hermione said. "It'll be fine when we all go to Hogsmeade tomorrow. I hope."  
  
"That reminds me," Harry said, sitting up a bit. "Would it be all right with you guys if Cho went with us to Hogsmeade for awhile?"  
  
Hermione shrugged. "It's all right with me. Just so long as she doesn't keep on thinking that I'm your girlfriend."  
  
"Yeah, it's okay," Ron decided, issuing a small sigh. "I'm going to bed, though. I'm dead tired. Night."  
  
"I'm coming too," Harry said, standing up. "Night, Hermione."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
HOUSE ELVES ARE TINY!! 


	14. Hogsmeade

There was a large number of students waiting to get outside of Hogwarts the next day. Filch carefully checked each person going out, making sure there weren't any sneaks.  
  
"Hey, Cho!" Harry called. She turned around.  
  
"Oh, hi Harry! Did, um."  
  
"Yeah, Ron and Hermione don't mind if you come. And Ginny's okay with it too. But I mean if you still wanted to go with some of your friends, we won't be insulted or anything like that."  
  
"Wow, thanks!" Cho cried, walking with Harry over to Ron, Hermione and Ginny. "Thanks for letting me come with you guys to Hogsmeade!"  
  
"How could we refuse?" Hermione asked truthfully as they entered the Hogsmeade village. "Besides, the more the merrier!"  
  
"Oh, PLEASE, Hermione," Ginny sighed. "None of your maxims today."  
  
"Fine. SORRY."  
  
"We forgive you," said Ron. "Where should we go first? How about the Three Broomsticks? I could use with a ButterBeer right about now."  
  
Cho suddenly grabbed Harry's shoulder and whispered something into his ear. He smiled, and motioned to Hermione, who walked over. Harry and Cho both whispered something to her, and Hermione grinned.  
  
"What're you saying?" Ginny asked.  
  
"You two go ahead on to the Three Broomsticks," Harry said. "We'll catch up to you in a little while."  
  
"You sure, mate?" Ron asked.  
  
"Yeah!" said Hermione and Cho simultaneously. "Go on ahead!"  
  
"Er.okay," Ginny said uneasily. She and Ron headed towards the Three Broomsticks, occasionally glancing over their shoulders at their friends.  
  
"It's this way," Cho told Harry and Hermione, leading them towards the west side of town. "I've been there before."  
  
"Whose idea was this, anyway?" Hermione asked curiously.  
  
"Cho's," Harry answered simply.  
  
"How did you know, though?" Hermione inquired.  
  
"Bad news travels fast," Cho replied. "Look, here it is!" The three of them walked into a store called, fundamentally, "Owls."  
  
"Buying Mrs. Weasley a new owl is such a thoughtful idea!" Hermione exclaimed, looking around at all the birds. "I'm sure she's had enough time to grieve for Errol, and besides-they NEED an owl."  
  
"What kind do you think we should get?" Cho asked. "What type of owl was Errol?"  
  
"I'm not really sure," Harry responded, pulling the curtains back on a large cage. Two large yellow eyes peered out at him.  
  
"Aye, be careful there, mate," came a voice, as a hand reached up and closed the curtains. "That bird don't like people much."  
  
Harry turned and saw a man standing next to him-one he could only assume was an employee. His blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and he looked exhausted. Suddenly his eyes widened.  
  
"Merlin's Beard!" he cried. "You're Harry Potter!"  
  
Not sure of what to do, Harry nodded feebly. Not wanting to continue the conversation on himself, he said, "What kind of owl was that?" He jabbed his thumb towards the curtained cage.  
  
"Great Horned," the man answered. "His name is Menime. He'd sooner poke your eyeballs out than even take one step closer to the door of his cage."  
  
"Well, then.why d'you even have him here?"  
  
"He belongs to the manager of the store, see. Likes 'im an awful lot, and wouldn't get rid of him for the world. We here thinks that Menime's related to a Jarvey, 'cause he keeps throwin' insults out at people every once in a while. Witches, mostly."  
  
"Right, um.Wilson," Harry said, reading the man's name tag."  
  
Wilson smiled. "'At's right, Mr. Potter! Me name's Wilson Owen, nice to meet you! So, what is it that you'd be lookin' for?"  
  
"Um.an owl."  
  
"Oh, 'COURSE ya are, Mr. Potter! Any certain kind of owl yeh lookin' for?"  
  
"No, not really."  
  
"Well, then let me show you a sweetheart!" Wilson grabbed Harry's shoulders and steered him towards a pink cage. "This here's a nice little barn owl, she is. Sweetest gal in the world, won't never give you a lick of trouble!"  
  
The barn owl peered at Harry through the cage. Her eyes seemed to light up, and she hooted warmly. "Cho, Hermione, come over here," Harry called.  
  
"Wow, she's adorable!" Cho giggled, sticking her finger through the bars in the cage. The owl shuffled up to her, ruffling its feathers against Cho. "Oh, I want her!"  
  
"The question is," Hermione said, "will Mrs. Weasley want her?"  
  
"'Course she will," Harry said. "Who couldn't love this little owl? She's so cute!"  
  
A few minutes later, Harry had paid for the barn owl (thought Hermione and Cho chipped in a bit). He, Hermione and Cho were walking towards the Three Broomsticks when they saw Ron and Ginny walk out of it. Harry quickly hid the cage behind his back.  
  
"Where were you guys?" Ron asked. "We've been waiting for you forever! We finally decided to come out and look for you!"  
  
"What's that you've got behind your back?" Ginny asked suspiciously, trying to look around Harry. "It's making noises."  
  
Harry grinned guiltily. "We just thought we'd get your mum a new owl." He pulled the cage out from behind his back. The barn owl looked around, a little confused at all the attention she was getting.  
  
"OH!" Ginny gushed, stooping to look into the owl's eyes. "She is SO cute!! I can't believe you guys bought her for us!!"  
  
"Well, Harry paid for most of it," Cho said.  
  
"But it was all Cho's idea," Hermione added. "I'm not going to let you get away with being modest now, Cho!"  
  
Ron seemed to be in a state of shock. Then he reached out an arm for the cage, and brought it closer to him. "Guys, I can't believe you did this!" A huge grin broke out onto his face. "She's.so endearing! Poor Mum was so worried about having to spend money on another owl!"  
  
"How can we possibly thank you guys enough?" Ginny asked, smiling. "You're all such dears!"  
  
"Uh, thanks," Harry laughed, blushing a bit.  
  
"All right then," said Hermione. "Why don't we all go back to the Three Broomsticks to have some lunch?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Fine by me."  
  
"Sure."  
  
With Ron leading the way (still carrying the cage), the group set off back up the hill. Ginny grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him aside.  
  
"What is it?" Harry asked.  
  
Ginny opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't say anything. Instead, she threw her arms around Harry, hugging him tightly. "Oh Harry, I really don't know what to say. Ron was right about mum being worried.she didn't think we could afford another owl and she was so anxious.she told us so in a letter."  
  
Harry felt tears come out of Ginny's eyes and fall onto his robes. "Ginny, why are you crying?"  
  
"Because I'm so grateful!" Ginny sobbed, hugging him tighter. "I'll never forget my first year at Hogwarts.if it hadn't been for you, I'd have died!"  
  
"W-well, it was really Ron that-"  
  
"Harry, it was YOU that defeated You-Know-Who, and it was YOU that saved me from the Chamber of Secrets! And I still hold true to what I said before-we've been through a lot of the same things together!"  
  
"Ginny, what're you trying to say?"  
  
"Th-that." Ginny quickly moved her hands from Harry's back to the back of his ears. She kissed his lips softly, not wanting to scare him off. But as the kiss continued, she refused to let go of him. Eventually though, Ginny pushed herself away from Harry. Then, looking terrified, she ran off as fast as she could.  
  
Harry stood there, looking as if he'd been struck by lightning. He had just been kissed by his best friend's little sister-well, she wasn't so little anymore.  
  
"Hey, Harry! Harry, where'd you go? Where's Ginny?"  
  
Quickly turning around, Harry saw Hermione walking towards him. "We were all in the Three Broomsticks and we realized that you two weren't with us! There's barely anyone in there anymore!" She laughed. "What happened?"  
  
"I-er, we-uh.she-I think Ginny went back to school."  
  
".Oh. Well come back with me, we've just ordered lunch."  
  
"Okay."  
  
During lunch in the restaurant, Harry zoned in and out of the conversation. He had known before that Ginny had been besotted with him, but that was when she was much younger. When he had just been a mere.celebrity to her. Had her feelings differed at all? Their table was in a dark corner of the place, which didn't really help him from drifint into a deep sleep.  
  
".what d'you think, Harry?"  
  
"Oh, what?"  
  
Ron sighed. "That's the third time you've had no idea what we've been talking about. I was just asking Cho who she thought should've won the Quidditch World Cup this year, and now I'm asking you."  
  
"Oh, um.Shanghai," Harry answered randomly..  
  
"Yeah, that's what I said," Cho announced proudly.  
  
"Are you kidding me?!" Ron bellowed in Harry's ear. "Shanhai sucked! It was obviously Ireland that should've won!! They haven't won in two years!"  
  
"Hey, at least they've WON at all!" Cho shot back.  
  
It was then that Harry noticed Hermione, sitting in-between Cho and Ron. She had her face buried in a book, wearing ear plugs. He supposed that she had used her wand to conjure them out of no where.  
  
Sighing, Harry tried to shut out Ron and Cho's argument about Quidditch. But every time he did, he thought of Ginny kissing him. Then he noticed Link and Zelda sitting at a table very close by. Moving his chair slightly closer to them, Harry found that he could hear most of what they were saying.  
  
"Do you think this was a good place to come, Zel?" Link asked in a whisper. "It looks like there are some pretty shifty characters in here."  
  
"Oh, it's fine," Zelda sighed with annoyance. "Besides, it's not like anyone in here actually knows what we're talking about."  
  
"Well.what if Gannondorf's got spies here?"  
  
"Link, don't be stupid. We just wiped out his entire army, and we'd recognize any of his soldiers. None of them have the power to change their form. TRUST me."  
  
"All right, whatever you say. Where did you put the Triforce?"  
  
Zelda glanced around, just checking that nobody was listening in. "You know the cupboard where I keep my Pensieve?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"There's a handy little loose board in the back of it that goes into the wall. The perfect hiding spot, I figured, so that's where I put the Triforce."  
  
Harry felt like screaming in annoyance. "What IS the Triforce?!" he thought angrily.  
  
Continuing, Zelda said, "Link, I thought I should give it to you. I feel so unsure of its being there. I'm afraid it's too vulnerable."  
  
"Don't be so worried," Link told her, taking her hand. He quickly dropped it, sitting back. "Besides, Gannondorf doesn't stand a chance of getting any where near Hogwarts."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Of course I am."  
  
"HARRY, GIVE ME A HAND!!"  
  
Ron's yelling drew Harry's attention back towards him. "What? What is it?"  
  
"Cho here says that Aidan Lynch is one of the worst Seekers ever to play in the World Cup! Tell her that isn't true!"  
  
"Actually, I think it IS true," Harry confessed truthfully. "I mean, did you see the way a couple years-"  
  
"You're both crazy," Ron sighed. "This is so sad."  
  
Suddenly, Zelda felt a hand on her shoulder. "Hand it over my dear," came a deep, cold whisper, "and no one gets hurt."  
  
"Get off her!" Link shouted, jumping out of his chair.  
  
A small, pudgy man had grabbed Zelda, and seemed undaunted by Link's threats. At this point, both Link and Zelda were ignorant of the fact that some of their students were present in the bar.  
  
"What's going on?" Hermione cried, shutting her book and turning around. Instead of attempting to help, most of the people in the bar had backed up against the wall.  
  
"Let her go, you Moblin!" Link shouted at the man who was holding onto Zelda.  
  
The Moblin pulled Zelda closer to him, so that they were both facing Link. He put his forearms around her neck, starting to walk backwards. "You can't hurt me with your little spells, fairy boy."  
  
"How do you think you can get away with this?!" Link spat, shoving his wand back into his robes.  
  
"I will. My King has made it very possible to do so. And just wait until he finds out that I have heard where the princess here has hidden the Triforce."  
  
"You'll never get away with it," Zelda choked, the grip on her neck getting tighter.  
  
"And who's to say I'm not, puppet?"  
  
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Cho were all pinned against the opposite wall. They could barely believe what was happening to their teachers (not that they wanted to believe it, either).  
  
Zelda turned around, but the Moblin still clung to her. He laughed. Then suddenly, Zelda ran full-speed towards the side of the restaurant. When it came, she ran up the wall, and flipped backwards. The moblin now had his back towards her, frightened out of his wits.  
  
Link ran up and pushed the Moblin into the wall. "Please, don't hurt me!" it pleaded. "I don't take well to any kind of pain!"  
  
"What's that?" Zelda asked, catching her breath. "You like REAL pain?" She picked up a small table and unceremoniously whacked the Moblin's head with it. "Try wearing a corset!" The Moblin sank to the ground, blood seeping out of its head. They were dead.  
  
"C'mon, let's go!" Link said, grabbing Zelda's hand and running out of the bar with her. There was a long silence.  
  
Suddenly, clapping broke out among the customers. "That was a good one, Rose!" shouted one drunken wizard. "Entertaiment here is getting better and better!"  
  
"Quick, let's get out of here!" Hermione whispered urgently. The Hogwarts students speedily left the bar.  
  
As they approached Hogwarts, the only sound was the barn owl Ron was holding. Finally, Cho spoke up. "That.was freaky."  
  
"And it definitely wasn't any act," Harry added. "I think Harkinian and Koke are in real danger here.but what on earth was that all about?!"  
  
"And what's a Triforce?" Hermione asked. "I don't get any of this at all."  
  
"Well whatever the Triforce is," said Ron. "It's in danger now. If any more of that Gannondorf guy's spies were in the Three Broomsticks, they'll know where it is."  
  
"But what could any of us possibly do about it?" Harry asked. "We've never even heard of it! We don't know what it is or what it does!"  
  
"Then we can't help," Hermione deduced. "It's that simple."  
  
"There's GOT to be some way," Cho whispered. "I feel so terrible. We just saw one of teachers get attacked, and we can't do anything about it at all!"  
  
"Oh, well do you think CEDRIC could have done something instead?" Ron sneered impatiently.  
  
Tears swelling up, Cho ran quickly ahead. Harry and Hermione glared at Ron.  
  
"Ron, what'd you have to do that for?!" Hermione bellowed. "You are so heartless! Can't you just give Cho a break?!"  
  
"Of course not!" Harry answered sarcastically. "They disagree about Quidditch!"  
  
"I was just joking," Ron said stiffly.  
  
"IT WASN'T FUNNY!!" Harry and Hermione shouted in unison.  
  
"Geez, sorry," Ron huffed. "Sorry I insulted your girlfriend, Harry."  
  
"She's not my girlfriend!" Harry insisted. "We're over! We're just friends! Besides, after what Ginny did to-" He stopped abruptly.  
  
"What were you saying?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Nice weather we're having," Harry said, sweating a bit.  
  
"About Ginny," Ron snapped. "What'd she do?"  
  
Harry squirmed a bit as they entered the Great Hall. He knew there was no getting himself out of this one. "Well, when you guys went to the Three Broomsticks and we stayed behind, it was because she.erm."  
  
"Oh, not again!" Hermione sighed.  
  
"What d'you mean again?!" Harry asked. "Cho was the one that kissed me before, not Ginny! She's never kissed me!"  
  
"She WHAT?!" Ron yelled, nearly dropping his new owl.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
ya, dont kill me. Pleez. But btw, that was hard to write. I've always been a cho/harry fan. 


	15. Zelda's Penseive

The next morning at breakfast, Ron glanced up at the staff table. "Harkinian and Koke are both gone. . ."  
  
"They're in the hospital wing," Hermione said. "I asked McGonagall this morning. She didn't tell me why, though-I just wanted to know if we'd overheard something yesterday that we weren't supposed to know. And guess who else is missing? Ginny."  
  
"I think she's over-reacting," Ron laughed. "I mean, it was just a kiss! Can't she get over it? I thought she still liked you, Harry!"  
  
"Well, you were right," Harry sighed, poking at his eggs. "I'm not changing the subject on purpose here, but there's another thing about the bar yesterday that I'm still confused by a bit."  
  
"What?" Hermione asked, smiling.  
  
"That is the THIRD person who called Harkinian a princess," Harry answered. "Don't you guys think that's weird?"  
  
"Yes," Ron answered immediately. "Very."  
  
"I don't know," Hermione replied. "Maybe it's just like her nickname or something. or not," she added, upon seeing Ron and Harry's unconvinced expressions.  
  
"I wish we could look into it somehow," Harry sighed. "This is all just so confusing."  
  
"You said it," Ron said, standing up. "Well, I've got to go. I promised Hagrid I'd help him out with the Jarveys-we're feeding them." He walked away.  
  
"Oh, that reminds me," Hermione said quickly, standing up. "I've got to go to the library. I promised Neville I'd help him with his report on the Polyjuice Potion for Snape." She winked at Harry, walking away.  
  
Sighing, Harry stood up as well. He slowly walked down the hallway. He was just passing Zelda's door when he heard sounds coming from behind it. Screaming, shouting, the sound of things crashing.  
  
Worried, Harry wrenched the door open and ran inside. The room was deserted, but the noises were still there. He traced the sounds to a cupboard towards the ceiling. Standing on his toes, he was able to nudge the door open, and the noises indeed became louder.  
  
"A jobberknoll!" Harry exclaimed, seeing a rush of feathers. Not able to see what he was touching very well, he ran his hand around the cupboard. Suddenly, his fingers felt liquid. The next moment, he felt his feet leave the ground, and he was pulled upward.  
  
Harry sat up and looked around him. He was in someone's bedroom-and a fancy one at that. His mouth dropped when he was hit with realization. Harry remembered from yesterday what his DATDA teacher had said was in her cupboard-he was in her Pensieve.  
  
Quickly standing up, Harry turned around. He saw the body of a girl about sixteen or seventeen years old crouching in the corner of her bed. She bore a striking resemblance to his teacher-in fact, she looked exactly like her, only her ears were pointed at the top.  
  
A knock came at the door. Harry saw the girl's eyes look up at it. "Whoever it is, go away now!" she shouted.  
  
"Princess?" came a voice behind the door. "Open up, please! It's Link!"  
  
"My father sent you, I know he did!" the princess yelled. "Leave me alone! I'm not going, and you can't make me!"  
  
"Perhaps not, but I can still get into this room!"  
  
"No you can't!"  
  
The next second, Harry saw a young man about the same age as the princess walk into the room, looking rather annoyed. The princess looked disappointed. "How'd you-"  
  
"Skeleton key," Link interrupted. Harry's mouth dropped. He looked just like Koke, except for the pointed ears-they even had the same first name!  
  
"Go away!" the princess hissed through gritted teeth, sitting up.  
  
Link crossed the room towards her bed. Harry quickly walked to the other side of the room, and tried to open the door. It was locked.  
  
"Please Zelda," Link whispered, sitting on the edge of the bed. "This night is very important to your father!"  
  
"That's why I'm not going!" Zelda shouted. "I can't! I won't!"  
  
"You've got to!" Link pleaded, reaching forward and grabbing her wrists.  
  
"What're you going to do?" Zelda smirked. "Try and seduce me in order to get me to go? Not gonna work."  
  
"Not a bad idea, Princess." Link shoved Zelda onto the floor, and her eyes widened.  
  
"You'd better not, Link! I'm warning you, you'd better not!"  
  
But before Zelda had a chance to crawl away, Link pressed her shoulders to the ground. He suddenly started kissing her lips passionately. Zelda suddenly seemed less tense, but Harry was mortified.  
  
"Stop." Zelda whispered automatically, thought not really having any emotion when she said it. Link suddenly became aware of what he had been doing, and sat up. Then Zelda leapt on top of him, kissing him whole- heartedly.  
  
Harry tried the door again. Still locked. Suddenly, the room swirled away, and Harry found himself in a green field. He looked around, and saw two small children running along a beach, laughing.  
  
"Be careful, you two!" called out a middle-aged woman, sitting in the grass close by. Harry walked closer to her. She had blue markings on her face, and graying hair.  
  
"We'll be fine, Impa!" shouted the little girl. The small boy took her distraction to his advantage, splashing water on her back. "LINK!! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THAT!"  
  
Looking closer, Harry arched his eyebrows. Could those two kids possibly be the two.elves he had seen in the last place?  
  
"Try and get me, Zellie!" Link taunted, running off.  
  
Yes. They were. Then the beach faded away, and was replaced by a large ball room, filled with people dancing and chatting away.  
  
Harry looked around him. He saw several royal figures scattered about the place, and others who looked like dukes, duchesses, or others of that sort. He could see a young looking man with shining black hair and a brilliant smile, headed right towards him.  
  
Turning around, Harry gaped. He could see his DATDA teacher, wearing a pale blue dress, amethyst jewelry, and small silver circlet on her golden hair. She looked completely bored, but put on a smile as the black-haired man approached her.  
  
"Princess Zelda, I would be honored to have this dance with you," he said, bowing and kissing her hand.  
  
"The pleasure would be mine, Prince Marth," Zelda said back. "I'm sure." She held out her arm, and he took it. The two of them stepped onto the dance floor.  
  
Two men wearing billowing red robes and large golden crowns walked up behind Harry. "They'll make a lovely match," said one of them.  
  
The other man sighed with happiness. "Ah, young love!"  
  
Harry looked again at Zelda. From her expression, it was easy to tell that the last thing she felt was love. He walked away, interested to hear what others had to say.  
  
"She's such a lovely girl," sighed one elderly woman. "Oh, I'd give anything to have looked that way when I was her age! You know, I do believe that she and Prince Marth are to soon be engaged!"  
  
"If they are, he ought to break it," said another old woman.  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"I've never seen a woman in love look so bored before."  
  
Harry glanced in one of the corners of the room, seeing someone who wasn't dressed as. . .nicely as all the others. He did a double take. It looked like Koke, brooding in the corner with a sword at his side. Harry followed his gaze. Link was staring at Marth and Zelda, with a look full of jealousy and anger.  
  
Once the dance was over, Marth led Zelda out of the ball room. Link tried to follow, but was stopped by some guards. Harry on the other hand, easily slipped through the door way just as Marth closed it behind them.  
  
"What is it you wanted to ask me?" Zelda inquired.  
  
"Come in here," Marth said, taking her into his bedroom. Zelda sat down a chair and looked at him expectantly.  
  
"Well, what is it?"  
  
Harry suddenly felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. Something told him that he shouldn't be there and neither should Zelda. . .  
  
Marth got down on one knee next to the chair Zelda was sitting on. "Zelda, I would indeed be grateful if you would please. . .marry me."  
  
Zelda looked as though she had been hit by a ton of bricks. Her mouth opened, but she couldn't speak. Marth smiled.  
  
"I see you are speechless. You must certainly be joyful of my proposal, considering the fact that-"  
  
"N-no," Zelda interrupted, finally having found her voice.  
  
"What?"  
  
"No!" Zelda repeated, a little more firmly. "Marth, I. . .I can't marry you!" The prince was infuriated, but the princess continued. "I simply cannot marry you!"  
  
"What do you mean by that?!" Marth spat. "For what possible reason could you want to refuse my offer of marriage?"  
  
"Marth, I. . .I don't love you!"  
  
Harry knew he shouldn't have followed them.  
  
"I can't marry you, because I do not love you!" Zelda cried, standing up. "My heart belongs to another!"  
  
"And who is that?!" Marth barked, also standing. "Is it Link, your precious fairy boy?! The one who's saved you so many times, the filthy peasant!"  
  
But before Zelda had a chance to respond, Marth grabbed her arm and threw her onto the bed. Now feeling rather anxious, Harry ran for the door. Again, it had been locked. Shouting in frustration, he closed his eyes tightly, still facing the door.  
  
"Marth, don't you even dare!" he could hear Zelda whisper.  
  
"What are you going to do about it, Princess?"  
  
Harry gritted his teeth, as he heard moaning and subdued screams coming from someone right behind him. Seconds later, he could hear footsteps outside the door.  
  
"What's going on in there?!" Harry heard someone shout, knocking.  
  
But suddenly, the room vanished into darkness-a new memory. This time, Harry found himself in a dark, stingy dungeon. He could hear water dripping slowly somewhere in the distance.  
  
"Bring her in."  
  
Harry looked up, and saw a green, red-haired man sitting on a large throne. He was what Harry had seen his teacher's boggart turn into- Gannondorf. On either side of his throne was an old woman, and an older man.  
  
"Let go of me, you Moblins!" came a feminine voice.  
  
Harry turned around again. A girl of about twenty one or two had her hands tied behind her back, and three grotesque figures holding onto her. Gannondorf snapped his fingers, and the figures Harry supposed were moblins dropped the young woman to the stoney ground. They walked away.  
  
Grinning evilly, Gannondorf stood up and walked towards the woman. "Good evening, Zelda." She merely glared at him. "I now have the whole Harkinian family within my thresh-hold." He gestured towards the two people by his throne-the king and queen.  
  
Harry's mouth dropped again. That confirmed it. The two elf-like people he had previously seen were definteley Harkinian and Koke.  
  
"You'll never have the Triforce!" Zelda barked. "I would rather die first than give it to you, you monster!"  
  
Gannondorf only laughed. "Perhaps you WOULD rather die." He grabbed the necks of the King and Queen, dragging them closer to Zelda.  
  
"Don't you dare hurt my parents!" Zelda screamed, trying vainly to undo the ropes that bound her.  
  
"Hurt them?" Gannondorf laughed. "I was thinking more along the lines of killing." He walked over to Zelda, and untied her hands. She stood up, but didn't dare run away.  
  
Zelda's expression angered. "Don't you even try!"  
  
"I'm afraid I'll have to if you continue to disagree with me, my dear." Gannondorf walked up to Zelda, placed a long finer under her chin, and kissed her intensely.  
  
"Stop!" Zelda cried, jerking away from him. "You're disgusting!"  
  
"Call it what you like!" Gannondorf laughed. "I call it pleasureful. But anyway, back to buisiness: the Triforce, or your parents?"  
  
"Daughter," the King said. "Do not give him the Triforce."  
  
"But father, he-"  
  
"Zelda, we must be willing to sacrifice ourselves for the country," the Queen whispered in a hoarse voice. "Hyrule cannot survive with selfish rulers."  
  
"Mother, what're you saying?!" Zelda cried. "You can't! I'll not let him kill you!"  
  
"But Zelda," her father said. "If you give him the Triforce, you'll simply be handing the whole country over to him! Do not do it! And besides daughter, think logically! Do you honestly think we could walk out of here alive if we simply handed him the Triforce? We would end up dying anyway!"  
  
"You can't be sure of that!" Gannondorf spat. "I may be willing to spare a few heads if the Triforce was handed over peacefully!"  
  
"You've never done anything peaceful in your life!" Zelda accused. At this, Gannondorf snapped his fingers again. Several moblins walked up to Zelda, tying her hands together once more.  
  
"Make up your mind already, will you!?" Gannondorf snarled, annoyed. "This shouldn't be too difficult a choice for you, Princess!"  
  
"I know!" Zelda yelled. She stared at her parents, occasionally glancing at Gannondorf and the moblins.  
  
A smile curled onto Gannondorf's face. Harry gasped. He knew what was going to happen to his teacher's parents.  
  
"I rather like hasty decisions," Gannondorf drawled. "And I'm afraid you're time is up, Princess. I'll have to take action."  
  
"Don't you do ANYTHING, Gannondorf!" Zelda shouted.  
  
"What's to stop me?!" Ganon laughed. He wrenched a whip out of his pocket, and flicked it at the King and Queen's backs.  
  
"NO, STOP!" Zelda screamed, petrified. "I'll-"  
  
"No, don't give it to him!" the Queen cried, writhing in agony. "Our time has come, Zelda! Don't give in!"  
  
"NO, mother, what're you saying?!" Zelda yelled. "HE'S GOING TO KILL YOU!!"  
  
"No, you think?" Gannondorf laughed, taking an axe from one of the moblins. He stepped behind Zelda's father. "Long live the King!"  
  
Harry clamped his eyes shut. He heard a thump noise, followed by an horrifed scream. He opened his eyes again, only to see the King's headless body. The head lay in front of the Queen's terrified body.  
  
"DON'T YOU DARE HURT MY MOTHER!!" Zelda shrieked, tears seeping onto her face and torn dress.  
  
"Oh, curses!" Gannondorf said. "I forgot completely! My dear Princess, I should like to make something be known to you: over the past few years, I have gained a new best friend. We are very much alike, he and I." Gannondorf walked back to his throne and picked up a long, thin piece of wood-a wand. "Would you like to know his name?"  
  
Zelda, still traumatized, stared at her mother, who returned the petrified look.  
  
"Voldemort!" Harry shouted, just as Gannondorf whispered the name. Ganon walked up to the Queen and pointed his wand at her. "My little friend has also taught me a few good tricks and spells. Allow me to demonstrate. Crucio!"  
  
The Queen's body twitched and twisted on the ground, as she experienced the most unbelievable pain. Screams echoed off the walls.  
  
"STOP, YOU MONSTER!" Zelda shouted, falling to the ground. Gannondorf kept the Cruciatus spell going, but he nodded at one of his moblins.  
  
The moblin also pulled out a wand, pointing it at Zelda. "CRUCIO!!"  
  
Harry watched in horror as he saw both his teacher and her mother getting tortured, screaming in pain. It was no wonder that Zelda had been so keen to get rid of this memory.  
  
A few minutes later, Gannondorf and the Moblin stopped. Zelda, covered in sweat, tears, and blood, tried vainly to stand up.  
  
"Time to say good-bye to mummy, Princess," Gannondorf sneered. "I still prefer the old axe for killing rather than wands. So, here we go. Quick and easy." Without another word, he swished down the axe onto the Queen's neck.  
  
"NO!" Zelda shouted.  
  
"Sorry, you're a bit late, my dear," Gannondorf laughed. "Now both of your parents are dead, but I am still Triforce-less."  
  
"I'm not giving it to you, Gannondorf!" Zelda cried. "Why do you think I would give you the Triforce for killing my parents?"  
  
Harry thought this was a good question. Gannondorf walked right past him, towards Zelda, still holding the axe. He looked ready to swing it, then stopped. "No, I don't think I will kill you. You're the only one who can give me the Triforce."  
  
"So what are you going to do?"  
  
Gannondorf knelt in front of Zelda, holding up the axe. "Hold out your arm." He grabbed Zelda's arm, and held the axe up to it. He put the tip of it onto her shoulder, and dragged it lightly down to her elbow joint.  
  
Suddenly, Harry heard the fluttering of wings. He turned around and saw Fawkes flying towards him. "Fawkes? What're you doing here?"  
  
The phoenix merely picked up Harry by the shoulders, and pulled him out of the Pensieve. Stunned, Harry found himself standing in his professor's dark room. Fawkes gave him a look that was rather difficult to translate.  
  
"It was an accident!" Harry defended, feeling that the bird was accusing him. In response to this, Fawkes flew out the window towards Dumbledore's tower.  
  
As Harry walked back to the Gryffindor common room, he thought about Fawkes. From previous experiences, he had thought that the person who owned the Pensieve was the only one that could take you out of it again.but Fawkes had proven him wrong.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
YOWZA! sry if u didn't like that.im trying. 


	16. Discussion With Hermione and Ron

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Harry, where have you been?"  
  
Jerking out of his sleep, Harry looked up to see Hermione and Ron looking down at him. He had been sitting in a soft chair in the Gryffindor common room.  
  
"We looked all over for you!" Ron said, sitting down. "We couldn't find you anywhere until Hermione thought to look here.have you been here ever since breakfast?"  
  
"Yes. . .no. . .no, I wasn't here all morning," Harry grumbled, sitting up.  
  
"Then where were you? It's Sunday, you should be outside enjoying the beautiful, nice weather."  
  
"Hermione, it's freezing out there."  
  
"Whatever. Where were you?"  
  
Harry looked around to make sure no one else was listening. "You guys. . .I accidentally went into Harkinian's Penseive."  
  
"What's a penseive?" asked Ron.  
  
"It's a kind of bowl-like device that you can store your memories in," Hermione answered. "Like if your brain gets too clouded with thoughts and stuff like that."  
  
"And you went in Harkinian's?" Ron asked excitedly. "What was it like?"  
  
"Well. . .there was really only one of her memories that was actually good. But you guys, I saw him again. Gannondorf."  
  
"What'd he do?" Hermione asked nervously.  
  
"He. . .he said that he was 'friends' with Voldemort and that he'd learned a few spells from him," Harry answered.  
  
"But what'd he do pertaining to Harkinian?" Ron inquired.  
  
"Gannondorf killed her parents."  
  
Hermione gasped, putting her hands to her mouth. "What?! He killed them?! How old was she when it happened?!"  
  
"I don't think it was that long ago," Harry answered. "She only looked about twenty years old. But the worst part of it was that she saw them both getting killed. They were both beheaded right in front of her."  
  
"That must've been terrible!" Hermione squeaked.  
  
"The understatement of the century," Harry groaned, slumping in his chair again. "But before Gannondorf killed the Queen-"  
  
"The Queen?!" Hermione and Ron asked in unison. "You mean her-"  
  
"Yes!" Harry interrupted, suddenly realizing he had forgotten to tell them. "In all of the memories I saw, she was called a Princess. And I know for a fact that her parents were a King and Queen."  
  
"Of what country?!" Hermione asked.  
  
"I have absolutely no idea."  
  
"This makes no sense. . ." Ron muttered.  
  
"And another confusing thing," Harry added. "Was their ears! Koke was in three of her memories, and they both had pointed ears! It made them look like. . .ELVES!"  
  
"Pointed ears?" Hermione asked. "This is all so puzzling. . .it doesn't make seem sensible at all. How could Koke and Harkinian be elves? It's just not possible! Their ears look normal now!"  
  
"Wait a minute!" Ron exclaimed. "What if they're Metamorphmagis? Like Tonks! And they can change their appearance whenever they want!"  
  
"But why would they want to do that?" Harry asked. "Why would they make themselves look human and come to teach at our school? It doesn't-"  
  
"No, no, it makes PERFECT sense!" Hermione shouted.  
  
"It does?" Ron and Harry asked in unison.  
  
"Of course! Harry-in Harkinian's penseive you said that you saw Gannondorf, right? And he said that he was a new friend of Voldemort! And then there was your dream too, Harry! What if Gannondorf and Voldemort ARE working together?!"  
  
"Maybe you've got something there, Hermione!" Harry cried. "It would make sense, wouldn't it? Gannondorf killed Harkinian's parents, and Voldemort killed mine!"  
  
"Oh, how horrible that must've been," Ron sighed. "Her parents getting murdered and all that."  
  
"Hey," said Harry. "Don't forget that my parents were ruthlessly killed by an evil wizard too."  
  
"Well, this is a little different," Hermione said. "I don't mean to say that your experience wasn't horrible, but imagine what hers was like. She actually KNEW her parents, and had to watch them get murdered right in front of her eyes."  
  
"Yeah. . .I guess you're right," Harry sighed. He looked up at the ceiling. "But it's still a bit confusing, don't you think?"  
  
"What is?" asked Ron.  
  
"That they're elves! If they WERE elves, wouldn't they be only two feet high? Elves are tiny! Not. . .you know, normal height."  
  
"That's a good point," Hermione mused. "Unless of course, Ron was right about their being Metamorphmagis. Then maybe they could change their height, too."  
  
"Not necessarily," Ron interrupted. "Appearance may only be like your hair, or nose, or ears and stuff like that."  
  
Hermione stood up. "C'mon, let's go to the library. Maybe there's something on Metamorphmagis there that we can look up."  
  
"Okay," Harry and Ron agreed, standing as well. They walked out of the common room, bumping into Neville on the way.  
  
"Hi, guys," Neville greeted them. "Where're you going?"  
  
"The library," Ron answered.  
  
"To do homework?"  
  
"Erm. . .yeah," Harry answered.  
  
"Okay. See ya."  
  
"That was close," Hermione breathed, as they walked down the hallway. "Quick, let's just get to the library."  
  
"Oh, wait!" Ron said, coming to a halt. "We have Quidditch practice, remember, Harry? We have to be down at the field in five minutes!"  
  
"I completely forgot!" Harry cried. "Sorry, Hermione. Ron and I have to go. But do you think you could stay here and research a bit for us?"  
  
"Yeah, sure," Hermione answered. "You two just hurry up, and get back here as soon as you can to help."  
  
"Will do," Ron agreed, as he and Harry ran off.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"As you all know," Alicia said, marching up and down in front of her team, "Slytherin won their previous game against Ravenclaw. This means, of course, that we will be playing against them in our next game."  
  
"I know what their strategies are like," Harry grumbled.  
  
"As do most of us," Alicia stated. "We shall have to teach Seamus, Dean and Ginny a bit, though. Do you three know anything at all?"  
  
"That they're callous," Ginny answered, sitting as far away from Harry as possible.  
  
"Well there's a rock solid foundation!" Dean said sarcastically. "I, however, do hope that Alicia, Katie and Harry will elaborate a little bit more on the subject."  
  
"Hey, what about me?" Ron asked.  
  
"What ABOUT you?" Ginny inquired sourly.  
  
"Never mind about it," Katie interrupted. She stood up and walked over to a large chalk board. "I'll show you the Slytherins' evil strategies."  
  
After Quidditch practice, Ron and Harry ran back to the castle. As they headed towards the library, they saw Hermione walking out of them. Seeing them, she rushed over to her friends.  
  
"I looked up Metamorphmagis," Hermione told Harry and Ron breathlessly.  
  
"And. . . ?" they asked.  
  
"The book listed what they could change about their looks, but height wasn't on there. That means that Koke and Harkinian aren't Metamorphmagis."  
  
"Well duh," Harry sighed. "That means that they can't be elves. . .right?"  
  
"Hold on," Hermione said. "Since your guys' Quidditch practice ran so long, I did research on something else. When we used the Extendable Ears to listen to Koke and Harkinian before, she said something about Hyrule. I thought that maybe it was the country her parents ruled."  
  
"Well is it?" Ron asked. "Where is it, anyway?"  
  
"That's just it!" Hermione exclaimed. "I couldn't find it in any of the school atlases! So I asked Madame Pince if she knew what or where it was, and she said she'd never heard of anything like 'Hyrule' before!"  
  
"So let me get this straight," Ron said. "Harkinian is a princess of some place we've never even heard of before, but she came to Hogwarts to teach because she thinks this Gannondorf guy is teaming up with You-Know- Who?!"  
  
"Yeah, I think that pretty much sums it up," Hermione responded. "But there's still one thing I don't really get. . .what role does Koke have in Harkinian's life? Sickly saplings."  
  
"I think I've got a good idea," Harry answered, as the Fat Lady's portrait swung open for them. "Like I said, he was in a few of her memories."  
  
"What happened?" Ron asked, sitting in a chair in one of the corners of the room.  
  
"Well. . ." Harry found himself turning red. "In her first memory, they were, erm. . .in Harkinian's bedroom-"  
  
"HARRY POTTER!" Hermione scolded, looking mortified. "I can't believe you would just barge in on-"  
  
"It wasn't like that!" Harry interjected hastily. "Well, actually. . .it kinda. . .anyway, Harkinian didn't want to go somewhere, but Koke wanted her to. So he flung her down onto the floor and started. . .well, he kissed her. And she kissed him back."  
  
"Oh, that's so romantic!" Hermione gushed. "Only it doesn't make sense."  
  
"And then in her next memory, they were little kids. Good friends, I think. And then another time, I was in. . .what I think was some sort of ball. There were a lot of people there, most of them looked royal, or of very high status."  
  
"Did they look like elves too?" Ron inquired curiously.  
  
Harry racked his brain trying to remember. "No, loads of them looked human! But then there were still some that looked like elves. . ."  
  
"Well, keep going. Where was Koke in the memory?" Hermione urged Harry.  
  
"He was brooding in a corner. He was staring at Harkinian dancing with this guy that I think was a prince." Harry sighed. "He looked really jealous."  
  
"That clarifies it," Hermione stated. "Koke is Harkinian's lover."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
AN:  
  
Hohoho, hahaha and a couple of lah-dee-dahs. . .THAT'S HOW WE LAUGH THE DAY AWAY IN THE MERRY OLD LAND OF OZ!!!  
  
...........sorry, hope u liked this chapter......... 


	17. Gryffindor vs Slytherin and mistletoe?

~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
As the Christmas holidays grew nearer, Harry grew more and more confused. The mystery of Koke and Harkinian's true identities was on his brain every minute. When he was in their classes, he couldn't find anything that make them. . .out of the ordinary.  
  
"They're just normal people," Ron deduced, putting on his Quidditch robes.  
  
"Who, the Slytherins?" Ginny asked, who had overheard the comment. "I don't think so. I don't think they're even from Earth."  
  
"Right," Harry said, not wanting to get involved.  
  
"Okay team," said Alicia, standing in front of them. "Here we go. Our game against Slytherin. I have a lot of faith in you guys! CAN WE DO IT?!"  
  
"Yes we can," her team chanted back in a monotone.  
  
"That's the spirit! Let's go kick Slytherin BUTT!"  
  
The Gryffindor team walked onto the field to loud cheers. Lee shouted off their names as they mounted their brooms, waiting for the other team.  
  
"BOO, YOU STINK!!!" Pansy Parkinson shouted from the stands. Then the Slytherins entered the arena. "YAY!! GOOOOOOOO SLYTHERIN!!!"  
  
"I hope Gryffindor wins," Zelda whispered to Link. "Even though I know that we're not supposed to be biased or anything."  
  
"Actually, I'm with you," Link said back. "Gryffindor should totally win! I hate all of my Slytherin students. . .even the ones that like me. Most of them are completely horrid, despicable kids!"  
  
"I know!" Zelda agreed. "Oh look, it's starting!!"  
  
"And they're off!" Lee shouted. "The Quaffle is in Ginny Weasley's possession, as she darts towards the goal posts. She passes it to team captain Alicia Spinnet who decides to take a shot! Ooh, she misses! Too bad there, Spinnet."  
  
"You were close!" Katie shouted to Alicia.  
  
"I HAVE FAILED!" Alicia yelled dramatically, flying towards the Slytherin Chaser with the Quaffle.  
  
"Yeah, ya have," Malfoy snorted under his breath. He stared with great dislike at Harry, on the other side of the field. Both were searching avidly for the Snitch, neither with much success so far.  
  
"10 points for Slytherin!" Lee announced. "And the Quaffle is caught by Gryffindor Chaser, Katie Bell..."  
  
"C'mon, you can DO this, Ron," Harry muttered to himself. "Just don't let the Quaffle get in the hoops. . ." He glanced over at Ginny, who was in the direct path of a Bludger. "GINNY, LOOK OUT!" Harry shouted.  
  
Ginny, not even stopping to look behind her, quickly flew downwards. She saw a Bludger zoom over her head, towards Katie. Dean came flying out of nowhere, yelling victoriously, and whammed the Bludger towards the other side of the field. As her heart rate went slowly back to normal, Ginny looked over at Harry and smiled gratefully.  
  
"Phew, that was close!" Hermione sighed. "I thought for a minute that she'd get the Bludger right in the head."  
  
"Nah, our Beaters are pretty good this year," Lavender said. "Even though Fred and George were great too."  
  
"TEN POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR!!!" Lee screamed, as Ginny made a shot. "SO FAR, THIS GAME IS EVEN!! Aaaaaaand the Quaffle is taken by Slytherin Chaser Mullet, who zooms down the field. . ."  
  
"My bat is bigger than your bat!" Goyle shouted at Seamus.  
  
"That's just great, Goyle," Seamus yelled back. "Fortunately for me, my brains and skill are both larger than yours!"  
  
In response, Goyle whacked one of the Bludgers towards Seamus. In turn, Seamus walloped it back to Goyle. In what looked like a mid-air tennis match, the two beaters hit the bludger back and forth.  
  
"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Madame Hooch shouted, flying up to them. "You two aren't supposed to be playing with that Bludger! USE IT!!"  
  
Annoyed by the interruption, Goyle belted the bludger towards Hooch. She barely managed to elude it, throwing him an angry look. She blew on her whistle.  
  
"Illegal move by Slytherin beater, Goyle!" Lee broadcasted. "And I do believe that Hooch is going to. . .yes! Gryffindor gets a foul shot!"  
  
"You take it!" Katie and Ginny both said to Alicia. She smiled weakly, and took the Quaffle from Madame Hooch.  
  
". . .AND SPINNET MADE THE FOUL SHOT!!" Lee shouted. "Making the game 20 to 10, Gryffindor!!"  
  
As the game went on, both teams eventually reached sixty points. Ron had floundered during the beginning of the game, but he was now becoming more and more sure of himself. He blocked another shot.  
  
"Way to go, Ron!" Ginny cheered for her brother.  
  
Then Harry saw it. A tiny flash of gold--fluttering next to Dean's left shoulder. Quickly, he looked around for Malfoy. Harry was extremely confused to see Malfoy headed straight for the ground.  
  
As Harry bolted towards the Snitch, he laughed loudly at a sudden realization: Malfoy was trying to perform the Wronski Feint! Unfortunately for him, Harry had already spotted the real Snitch.  
  
"And what's this?!" Lee cried into his megaphones. "We have both Seekers speeding in flight, but in two different directions!! Has one of them really seen the Snitch?!"  
  
"Move, Dean!" Harry shouted. Dean dropped down, and Harry soared over him. Cheers echoed throughout the stadium when they realized that Harry had caught the Snitch.  
  
"And Potter catches the Snitch, earning 150 points for Gryffindor!" Lee declared. "Making the final scores 210 to 60! GRYFFINDOR WINS THE MATCH!!!" The Slytherins' boos were drowned out easily by the cheers from the rest of the students.  
  
"That was great, Harry!!" Ginny shouted, as the two of them landed on the ground. She ran over to him, and kissed him adoringly. She blushed furiously, but continued to speak. "Do you think that Malfoy was trying to do the Wronski Feint?"  
  
"I'll bet he was!" Ron laughed, walking up to them. "That was hilarious! Great game, Harry! Good job!"  
  
"You both did fine, too," Harry said, blushing a bit. "Ron, you're getting better and better as a Keeper!"  
  
"Hey, don't I get any individual praise?" Ginny joked.  
  
"Yes. You're amazing too."  
  
"GREAT JOB, YOU GUYS!!" Hermione yelled, running up to the three. She grabbed them all in a very tight hug. "YOU ARE ALL SO AMAZING!!! I AM SO TOUCHED BY YOUR TALENT!!!"  
  
"Erm...thanks, Hermione," Harry said in a muffled voice, trying to get out of her tight grasp. "It's really nothing."  
  
"Nothing my nose!" Hermione yelled, to the confusion of her three friends. "C'mon, let's go celebrate--AT DINNER!!"  
  
Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle trudged back to the fields alone. Malfoy refused to talk to Goyle, who had given the Gryffindors a foul shot. His face was flushed red, furious that his Wronski Feint had backfired.  
  
"That was a good try though," Crabbe said.  
  
"Shut up, will you?!" Malfoy yelled. "It didn't work! Who CARES if it was a good try or not?! It completely flopped! Potter got the Snitch!"  
  
"Well, I believe that it was a brilliant show of talent," said Snape, who had been walking behind them.  
  
"Oh. Hello, professor," Malfoy said, as Snape drew level.  
  
"Let it be known to you, Malfoy," Snape continued. "That you are not the only one in this school who has been humiliated." His eye twitched, as he saw Zelda and Link walk past them. Snape clenched his fists tightly.  
  
"That duel, right?" Malfoy asked. "I was rooting for you, Professor. If you ask me, I think that Harkinian cheated. . .not using a wand, what rubbish!"  
  
"I quite agree," Snape snarled. However, he still remembered that he had also agreed to let Harkinian use her own powers instead of a wand. "That scurvy witch had a lot of nerve to come to this school. . ." Snape was mostly talking to himself now.  
  
"Really? I think she's pretty!" Goyle said.  
  
"Shut up, Goyle!" Malfoy and Snape barked.  
  
Meanwhile, at dinner. . .  
  
Hermione, Ron, and Harry had decided to tell Ginny about Zelda's Penseive. When they told her that they believed Link was her "lover," she nodded.  
  
"Based on what you guys told me, I think he likes her too," Ginny agreed. "But of course, we'll never find out for sure."  
  
"Hey wait, look over there!" Hermione cried, pointing towards the doorway in front of the great hall. She could see Link and Professor Sprout walking towards it, and Hermione's eyes had darted to the mistletoe above the door.  
  
"Ew, no!" Ginny cried, following Hermione's stare. "Sprout's got to be at least fifteen years older than Koke! He'd never--"  
  
Ginny stopped in mid-sentence. Sprout and Link had both noticed the mistletoe. A bit pink, Link stooped down, allowing Sprout to peck his cheek. Blushing terribly, Sprout ran to the staff table, Link not too far behind.  
  
"Hey, look at Harkinian!" Ron laughed.  
  
Zelda was staring at Sprout with so much loathe, her cheeks were turning a bit red. Link, noticing this, stuck his tongue out at her. Taken aback, Zelda soon recovered from her shock and subtly stuck her tongue out at him in return, narrowing her eyes.  
  
"They're so immature!" Hermione giggled. "It's really quite funny. . .even though he really shouldn't toy with her emotions like that."  
  
"Hey, it was just mistletoe," Harry pointed out. "Nothing serious. Really. Besides, it's like Ginny said before: Sprout is fifteen years Koke's senior! We're being stupid."  
  
"Aw, speak for yourself," Ron laughed.  
  
"Ooh, I have an idea!" Ginny squealed, blushing and laughing. She whispered something to Hermione, who nodded, grinning. "Let's go, before dinner is over!"  
  
"Wait for us!" Ron called after them, standing up with Harry. "Wonder what they're going to do. . .especially since they apparently don't care whether or not we know about it! Oh look, there they are. GINNY, HERMIONE!!"  
  
"What is it?" Ginny asked, turning around.  
  
"We wanted to know what you guys're doing," Harry answered stiffly.  
  
Hermione laughed. "Well, we figured that we'd have a little fun." She pulled some mistletoe out of her pocket. "We're going to put this over Harkinian's doorway. You know, to test her own fidelity! If we're lucky, Koke might be the one she sees it with!"  
  
"You guys," Ron complained, though not able to contain a smile. "That's not very. . . oh, that sounds great!"  
  
"We're going to standby and see what happens," Hermione said. "We thought we--"  
  
"You don't have to hide out or anything," Harry interrupted. "By the time Harkinian gets to her room, this hall will already have kids in it!"  
  
"Oh, you're right!" Ginny said. "I guess we can just hang this up, go back to the dining hall, and wait for them to come out." She pointed her wand at the mistletoe in Hermione's hand. "Wingardium Leviosa!"  
  
The mistletoe slowly rose into the air, and Hermione did a spell to attatch it to the doorway. Laughing, the four of them rushed back into the great hall.  
  
A few minutes later, most of the students and teachers began to drift away from dinner. Noticing that Zelda and Link were leaving, Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny joined the flock of students also exiting the room.  
  
Link's eyes rose to the mistletoe above Zelda's door. Instead of going his own way, he started to follow her. Zelda, who hadn't seen Hermione's "plant," turned around to give Link a strange look. She stopped right in front of her doorway. "What're you doing, Link?"  
  
He smiled, then glanced up at the mistletoe. Zelda followed his gaze. "Ah-ha. . .no. Good-bye, Link."  
  
But before Zelda could close her door, Link grabbed her arm. She turned to face him, when he suddenly drew her closer. Not uttering a word, Link dipped the princess and kissed her lips passionately.  
  
Simply caught in the moment, Zelda could only blush, but had not the heart (nor the will) to push away. Finally, the realization that several students were watching them sunk in. Link quickly helped Zelda stand straight again.  
  
"Erm. . .thanks. . .?" Zelda whispered, smiling and closing her classroom door behind her, still blushing.  
  
"Yeah," Link muttered, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. He turned, and saw several girls swarmed around him. In shock, he backed up against the door. "Uh, um. . . I, er. . .I think I'll just be--"  
  
Zelda's door opened slightly, and a hand reached out. It grabbed Link's shirt collar, and pulled him inside.  
  
"Okay people, time to go!" Ginny shouted, trying to usher the students out of the hallway. "There's nothing more to see, you can all go back to your dorms. . ."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
there u r, an l/z KISS!!! what'd u think? plz review!  
  
btw, to all c/h fans, it's not too late!!! just tell me if u want that 2 happen! 


	18. Unexpected Visitor

Link didn't believe that he had ever seen Zelda blush more in his life. Having just rescued him from a mob of girls, she collapsed onto her desk chair, a coy look on her face.  
  
"Your welcome," Zelda stated after a long silence.  
  
Grinning, Link walked over to her desk and sat on top of it. "Thanks. . .wait a minute, what am I thanking you for?"  
  
Zelda shrugged. "Saving you from your fan club, I guess. Or maybe I just wanted to see if you'd. . .um. . .never mind."  
  
"What?" Link asked, leaning foward a bit.  
  
Shaking her head slowly, Zelda backed her chair away from him. She couldn't meet his eyes. "Link, I thought a long time ago that we were. . .you know, over. You know we could never really become a pair."  
  
Though hurt by her words, Link didn't show it. He snorted a small chuckle. "You know Princess, the only other time I remember ever kissing you was when your father was announcing his engagment to Queen Crawford of. . .wherever it was. . .and I went up to your room to get you to go and. . ."  
  
"Yes, I remember," Zelda sighed, giving Link a small, exasperated smile. "Oh, how I used to wish that I wasn't a princess, just for your sake."  
  
Interested, Link pulled up another chair next to her. "What do you mean by that, Zel? Are you--are you saying that you--"  
  
"A long time ago," Zelda interrupted. "I used to see you practicing with your sword in the court yard, and I would grasp every move you made with my mind, never wanting to let it go. And I remember the first time I ever saw you, when you came to Death Mountain and saved me from Gannondorf. . ." As tears became visible on Zelda's cheeks, small sobs became equally audible.  
  
Link was floored. His mind raced with thoughts as he clung onto the princess's every word, as if waiting desperately for something. . .then of course, he had to think of what exactly he was expecting. A confession of some sort, or what?  
  
"I-I thought that it was j-just a teen infatuation," Zelda continued, trying to hold back tears. "I never thought you loved me at all! And then that night my father was to announce his engagement, a-and you came up to my room and--" She was interrupted by an unusually loud sob, followed by a rather loud sneeze.  
  
"Here," Link offered pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket (always be prepared, you know). Zelda gratefully took it.  
  
"But after that night," Zelda went on. "You never brought it up again. I tried to tell you, honestly, I did--you just didn't get my hints! It was every day implied, but never actually confirmed or told of! I started feeling so uncomfortable with myself around you, trying to be perfectly. . .well, perfect! It wasn't soon until I finally gave up and recognized that it was all in vain. After all you, h-had Malon to--"  
  
"Hold on a second," Link interposed. "Malon and I have never had a 'relationship.' We are just FRIENDS." He emphasized the last word, then paused. "Oh Zelda, why didn't you just say something?"  
  
"I was afraid," Zelda sniffed. "Afraid to fall in love with you! I knew that if I really truly ever did, I'd never be able to let go! My father would never even DREAM, let alone consider letting me have a suitor that was a peas. . .well, one that wasn't royalty. And I was so afraid that you wouldn't understand, or that you didn't care for me at all. That's my biggest flaw, Link. I'm such a coward of the truth, but no one knows it!"  
  
Exasperated, Link instinctivley reached out a hand to Zelda and she grasped it, still sobbing uncontrollably.  
  
"From then on, I lied to myself! I denied that I had ever loved you, so when ever you joked about it, or even brought it up, I just couldn't bring myself to. . ."  
  
The rest of Zelda's words became incomprehensible as her sobs became louder than her voice. Feeling terrible, Link put his arms around Zelda, just as she threw her arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder.  
  
"Zelda. . ." Link was having trouble finding words for the situation.  
  
The last of her tears drying up, Zelda put a finger to Link's mouth, silencing him. "Link, as of now I am still slightly confused about our. . .feelings. . .for each other. You just kissed me under that mistletoe, but you also let Sprout kiss you."  
  
"Oh, Zelda! C'mon! She just--"  
  
"But," Zelda interrupted. "In spite of everything, I'd like you to grant me this one request." Saying this, Zelda got into a position where she was sitting on Link's lap, her arms still clasped around his neck. Smiling mischievously, Zelda leaned towards him, meeting his soft lips with her own.  
  
Link's response to this was pure shock. After that whole speech he'd just been lectured with, he had expected Zelda to hate him--surely not start kissing him. He wondered if. . . . .his thoughts were drowned out by the sudden realization that Zelda, the only woman in the world he'd ever wanted, was kissing him. SHE was putting the moves on HIM. Surely that meant something.  
  
Zelda scolded herself for thinking what a good kisser Link was. She felt like running out the doors and telling all those students about it-- even though they'd probably kill her for it. But she didn't care. She finally felt her dreams becoming a reality.  
  
Moving her hands to the small of Link's back and his upper neck, Zelda thought only of him. Nothing else mattered to her anymore-- Gannondorf could walk in at this moment, steal the Triforce, and she wouldn't even blink.  
  
The mirth of the moment was suddenly broken by a loud, piercing scream. The two elves jumped apart immediately, causing the chair they'd been sitting on to break. Blushing as she got off of Link, Zelda helped him up, and the two of them ran out of the door.  
  
"Gannondorf!" they shouted in terror.  
  
Clenching his fists, the Gerudo king turned to face them. Zelda and Link could both see a Hufflepuff first-year, who had fainted behind Gannondorf. In his hand, he held the Triforce. Gannondorf grinned at Zelda's horror.  
  
"I managed to grab a hold of these," he said casually, as several students and teachers approached the hallway.  
  
Burning with anger, Link took a step closer. "You had to have gone into Zelda's room to get the Triforce! You should've made your presence known, you coward!"  
  
"What? And interrupt that beautiful love scene?" Gannondorf chuckled. "I wouldn't DREAM of it!"  
  
"Give it back!" Zelda shouted, reddening from anger and annoyance with herself. "The Triforce belongs to me! Hand it over, Gannondorf!"  
  
"Hmmmm. . .let me think. . .no."  
  
By now, several of the teachers, too terrified to speak, were walking silently behind Gannondorf, their wands raised.  
  
"Don't waste your spells, my friends," Gannondorf suddenly said, turning around. "You humans cannot harm me with the most lethal of your spells. NO one can, I'm afraid. You'll just have to deal with my presence here until I finish gloating."  
  
McGonagall stared at Dumbledore. "What do we do, Albus?! And who is this man? Surely he isn't. . .You-Know-Who?"  
  
"You mean Voldemort?!" Gannondorf yelled, laughing heartily. "No, my dear woman, he is but a good friend of mine. He's even taught me a few tricks, I might add. Given me some advice on how to torture and dispose of people." He looked around. "Where's the boy named. . .Harry Potter?"  
  
The crowd of students looked around, completely silent. Then, a scrawny black-haired boy stepped in front of them all. "Here I am."  
  
Gannondorf looked down at Harry and grinned devilishly. "I've heard a lot about you, Mr. Potter. Voldemort doesn't care much for you, does he?"  
  
"No. He doesn't."  
  
"He is the greatest of all wizards ever born, and yet you have defeated him on so many different. . .occasions, is that correct?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And why, may I ask, does he contain this hatred for you especially?"  
  
"He tried to kill me. Right after he killed my parents."  
  
"He killed your parents, did he?" Gannondorf roared, laughing. "Did you hear that, Zelda? Voldemort and I must have more common than I thought. You see boy, I have no mercy either. Your. . ." He supressed a laugh. ". . .teacher, here, had the exhilirating experience of watching her parents be tortured than killed."  
  
"STUPEFY!!" Professor Snape suddenly shouted. The red sparks shot out of his wand and hit Gannondorf, but had no effect.  
  
"You poor fool!" the evil man laughed. "Have you no ears? Did I not earlier mention the fact that you cannot hurt me with your spells?!"  
  
"Perhaps humans can't," Zelda snarled. "But elves can!" She leapt on top of Gannondorf's back, clenching her arms around his neck. She suddenly started to glow, and electric sparks flew out of her body and onto Gannondorf.  
  
Howling in pain, Gannondorf tried vainly to grab Zelda and wrench her off of him. Running backwards, he headed for the nearest wall.  
  
At the last minute, Zelda flipped over Gannondorf's head and in front of him. This, of course, caused him to crash into the wall full-speed.  
  
"You think you're quite a show, don't you, Princess?" Gannondorf wheezed, inching closer to her. "Let's see how well you respond to real pain now." He whipped out a wand, and pointed in menancingly at Zelda. "CRUCIO!"  
  
It felt as if spears were being stuck into Zelda's body over and over again. But now that she was older, she was not; at any cost; going to let Gannondorf have the satisfaction of hearing her scream. He'd had that sensation three years ago.  
  
Angered that no one else was helping him, Link fell to the floor and crept towards Gannondorf's back. The Gerudo, whose concentration was focused on making Zelda scream, paid him no attention. Suddenly, Link reached up with a dagger, and sliced Gannondorf's hand--the one which loosely held the Triforce. The objects of magic fell to the ground, and Link collected them quickly.  
  
Gannondorf whirled around, taking the curse off of Zelda. "Give me the Triforce, boy!" he snarled. "They're mine!"  
  
"They belong to the Princess!" Link insisted, taking a step back. "Get away from this school, Gannondorf!"  
  
"Or what?!" he asked, walking towards the school. "You'll expel me?!" He put one hand around Zelda's neck and the other around her legs. He mercilessly threw her to the wall, where she crashed into a suit of armor.  
  
Link ran over to Zelda, petrified. Blood seeped out from her shoulders and neck. She blinked, and coughed. Suddenly, the princess was enclosed by a pink crystal. Link flew backwards. "No, not again!"  
  
"I'm afraid so!" Gannondorf laughed. "Until you decide to hand over the Triforce, our dear little Princess will be spending some time back in my castle!"  
  
In a state of shock, Link stared helplessly as Zelda and Gannondorf both disappeared.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
OH NO!!!!...................................................................... .............pleez review. 


	19. Oz

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Link threw himself into the corner where he had last seen Zelda. Now she was gone. Back at Death Mountain. He'd be no help to her here.  
  
There was a very loud, long silence. McGonagall broke it by stepping forward and putting a hand Link's shoulder. "Who. . .was. . .that?"  
  
Harry gasped. McGonagall hadn't known who Gannondorf had been either. . .  
  
Link slowly stood up. He turned to face Dumbledore, his expression torn between anger and tears. "Albus, may I request a meeting in your office immediately?"  
  
"Yes," Dumbledore answered. "All students, please return to your dormitories at once. All teachers please follow me into my office. Wait a moment, Harry."  
  
Harry stopped walking and faced Dumbledore. "Yes, sir?"  
  
Dumbledore hesitated before he spoke. "Come with us."  
  
Once inside Dumbledore's office, Link collapsed onto a chair. A few small tears escaped his eyes, but he brushed them away quickly. He refused to let himself be seen crying at a desperate time like this.  
  
"Koke," Snape snarled through gritted teeth. "I do believe you've got some explaining to do. Enlighten us."  
  
"Severus, I believe it is I that owes you an explaination," Dumbledore sighed, letting Link release a small sigh of relief. Dumbledore turned to glance at Harry. "Mr. Potter, I would ask that you please DO NOT repeat any of this information to ANY of your friends or classmates. Not even Ron or Hermione. This is strictly confidential."  
  
"Then why is the boy here in the first place?" Snape asked.  
  
"All will reveal itself in due time, Severus," Dumbledore responded. "We may be needing Harry later on...but to answer your earlier question, Minerva, that man was not Voldemort--like he claimed, he is only a friend of his."  
  
"What do you mean, Albus?" Minerva asked worriedly, after flinching at the sound of Voldemort's name. "Was he--"  
  
"I do believe he goes by the name Gannondorf," Dumbledore interrupted. He rotated his chair towards Link. "Is that correct, Link?"  
  
"Yes," he croaked in response. "And he's very--"  
  
"Please, let me explain this," Dumbledore cut in. "Before you and Zelda got your jobs here, you told me the whole story." The Headmaster turned towards his staff. "You see, neither Link or Zelda are from...how would you say it...this earth, or galaxy."  
  
"I KNEW IT!" Snape yelled. He turned towards McGonagall. "Pay up!"  
  
Looking quite peeved, McGonagall flipped a Sickle at Snape. "But Headmaster, if they aren't--"  
  
"Link," Dumbledore said, interrupting for the third time. "Your ears."  
  
Sitting up in his chair, Link reluctantly pulled out his wand. Muttering something quietly, he used it to make his ears resume their normal pointed form. Several of the teachers let out gasps of surprise.  
  
"Y-yer an elf!" Hagrid stammered.  
  
"Yes, that's right," Link growled. "Zelda and I both are. We came to this school because we know Voldemort and Gannondorf are planning to do something terrible...both to England and Hyrule--that's where we come from."  
  
"But how do you know that?" asked Professor Sinistra.  
  
Still brooding, Link pulled a crumpled piece of paper out from his pocket. He gave it to the Astronomy teacher, telling her to read it.  
  
Adjusting her glasses, Sinistra proceeded to read the letter aloud:  
  
'The colored road leads you there, and once I have your princess fair,  
  
That's where you will find us both. Undoubtedly by now, Link, you are filled with anger and loath.  
  
It's not Death Mountain, my dear friend--nor is it around the bend. Yet it is in Hyrule we will reside, so you may want to quicken your stride.  
  
By now I'll have tried to still the Triforce without success; you always beat me I must confess. But until you bring the Triforce to me, Hyrule's heir will never be free.  
  
Ozzy can show you the way to my spot. But he's the head of a tricky lot! Voldemort is at my side, and there's nothing that can stand in the way of our pride!!  
  
So unless you can get to us in time, your dear Princess may be dead 'fore I can think of another ryhme (though I'm trying). Hogwarts is in trouble, so pick up the pace. Or else, it shall be the end of all human race!  
  
As you skip off to your school, remember she's in trouble at all times, YOU FOOL. Danger is upon you and wherever you've kept--  
  
Our plans should bring the spring out of your step.'  
  
The teachers all looked in confusion at Dumbledore and Link (Harry stared at them too). It was a few minutes until Flitwick finally spoke.  
  
"When did you recieve that letter?"  
  
"Just as Zelda and I were applying for the jobs here," Link answered. "Now we're all in very serious jeopardy."  
  
"Wait a moment," McGonagall said hastily, looking over the letter. "How does this make sense, Koke? Who is this 'princess' that...Gannondorf...keeps bringing up?"  
  
"Zelda," Dumbledore answered.  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"It's all very simple," Dumbledore continued. "Both the princess and Link had to come here in order to protect Hogwarts from these odious men."  
  
"And who are you?" Snape spat at Link. "Her royal guardian?"  
  
"Something like it. But I'm still having problems with the letter." Link took it out of McGonagall's hands. "Like this 'colored road' and Ozz...I don't know what they are."  
  
Harry gasped loudly. His dream. He remembered his dream.  
  
"What is it, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
"M-my...one of my..."  
  
"Not another one of your prophetic dreams," Snape drawled.  
  
"I believe it was, Severus," Dumbledore said. "Harry, does this dream you had have anything to do with this?"  
  
"DOES ANYONE HERE KNOW WHAT A MOVIE IS?!" Harry bellowed, becoming desperate. If no one had ever heard of a movie, how were they supposed to know about Judy Garland?  
  
"A what?" all the teachers asked in unison.  
  
"I do," Dumbledore said calmly. "But what does that have to do with this?"  
  
"Professor," Harry said. "In my dream, Malfoy told me to follow the yellow brick road, and so I--"  
  
"The Wizard of Oz," Dumbledore mused. "Ozz...the colored road...you may have something here, Harry!"  
  
"I fail to see the connection," Snape said bitterly.  
  
Dumbledore ignored him. "Harry, where were you when you had this dream!? It's very important that we find out!"  
  
Harry slammed his fist to his forehead, trying to recall exactly what had happened. "I. . .I remembrer a room where Professor McGonagall was dancing to disco music. . ." (McGongall's eye twitched, even though she wasn't entirely sure what disco was) "And then Malfoy told me to follow the. . .NOW I remember, Professor!"  
  
"Well, what was it?" Snape asked impatiently. "We have no time for dramatic tension, Potter!"  
  
"It was in that room," Harry continued. "The room where you go when you need something badly...oh, Professor, you know which one I mean! The room where we had your army last year, the room where you saw the collection of chamber pots!"  
  
"Oh yes," Dumbledore said, his eyes glinting. "We must go there at once! Harry, you take us there."  
  
"ME?!" Harry asked incredulously.  
  
"HIM?!" Snape and Filch cried.  
  
"Yes, we haven't got much time."  
  
Sighing and praying that he'd been right, Harry dashed out of the room with a flock of teachers behind him. He ran down the steps that had lead to Dumbledore's office, and flew down a corridor. Link drew even with Harry, more anxious than any of them.  
  
"Which (huff) way (puff) from here?" Link gasped between breaths.  
  
"Up these flight of steps," Harry answered, leading them all up the stairs. He suddenly came to a stop.  
  
"What is it, Harry?" asked McGonagall.  
  
"I remembered another part of my dream," Harry wheezed, bending over and clutching a stitch in his side. "When I reached the end of the yellow corridor, I opened the door to a room. Both Voldemort and Gannondorf were there. . .and, er. . .the Headmaster was wearing a kilt and meditating."  
  
"Well, excepting a few details, I'd say that was rather helpful," Dumbledore sighed. "Now the only--"  
  
"Who's there?"  
  
The group of wizards stopped murmuring and looked around for the source of the eerie voice.  
  
"I said who's. . .ao, it's 'Arry Potter, in'it?"  
  
"Erm. . .yes."  
  
"Yes, I know all about you," said the voice.  
  
"Who are you?" Snape shouted into the darkness in front of them. "Show yourself, you bloody coward!"  
  
"I'm sorry," the voice said. "So rude of me, sir. Allow me to introduce myself. The name's Ozzy. Ozzy from Oz. Never heard of it, I expect. Oh yes, I 'spose I'd best be showin' myself to you all."  
  
Harry watched in disbelief as a small lollipop appeared out of nowhere. It made a swishing motion, and then a tiny man appeared. His short, brown hair had been slicked back with large amounts of hair gel, and he was wearing a very smug look on his face. He laughed at their shock.  
  
"Weren't expecting that, were ya?" Ozzy chuckled. "I'd say that you-- oh, wait just a minute." His eyes narrowed. "Say, you're that Link boy I was warned about, aren't you?"  
  
Link showed no emotion when he said "Yes. How may I be of service to you?"  
  
Ozzy grinned and laughed. "Nice sense of humor, fairy boy. And I see that Gannondorf was right. . .you've come to rescue her, haven't you? And you've brought your nice little group of teachers to come to your aid." Ozzy laughed again. "Hate to break it to you boy, but you lot'll have to get past me before you'll be reachin' Zelda--right behind this door behind ME."  
  
McGonagall slowly took out her wand.  
  
"Don't try it, Miss," Ozzy said. He took a lollipop out of his pocket, and tossed it at McGonagall's wand. The candy stuck to the wood, and they zoomed back to Ozzy. The midget smirked evilly. "I'm not like you lot, you know."  
  
Suddenly, the whole group of teachers (and Harry) simultaneously whipped out their wands, and in unison cried, "STUPEFY!"  
  
The red sparks hit Ozzy in the chest, and he collapsed to the ground. The group rushed past him, McGonagall grabbing her wand on the way.  
  
"That was too easy," Link said.  
  
"What do you mean by that?" asked McGonagall.  
  
"I mean that normally Gannondorf would have much better protection. It's got to be a trap of some sort. He couldn't really be just behind this d--"  
  
Link was interrupted by horrendous screaming coming from behind a pair of large wooden doors. McGonagall's eyes widened.  
  
"I don't remember even seeing these doors before!"  
  
"That's because it's the chamber pot room!" Dumbledore exclaimed. He set a hand on the doorknob. "My friends, trust me on this. Behind these doors, we'll--"  
  
Another horrifying scream pierced Dumbledore's speech.  
  
Link stepped forward and grasped the other knob, taking a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothing."  
  
Together, Link and Dumbledore wrenched the doors open.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
I wish I could call this a cliffhanger, but I won't. Plz review. 


	20. The Dark Lord and The Dark King

The teachers gasped at what lay before their eyes. The room didn't resemble any of the ones in Hogwarts; it didn't even have chamber pots in it. Gannondorf was sitting upon a tall wooden chair, laughing hysterically.  
  
"Very good, Link!" Gannondorf laughed. "You're here two hours before I expected you! Tell me, how was it that you got here so quickly? Was my hiding spot that obvious? Come now, let's thank who ever it was that helped you."  
  
Gritting his teeth, Link stepped closer. "Where's Zelda, Gannondorf?"  
  
"Do you have the Triforce on you?"  
  
"Yes," Link said.  
  
"Will you give it to me?"  
  
"NO!"  
  
"Then I won't tell you where the princess is." Gannondorf sighed, and stood up. He walked towards Link. "It's as simple as all that. Ah, look! You've brought your new found friends! How adorable, have they come to help you battle Voldemort and me?"  
  
Snape and McGonagall's eyes twitched. They had just been called "adorable" by an evil wizard. That was unbelievably humiliating. Feeling pressured, they grasped their wands in their pockets.  
  
"The score we have to settle is strictly between you and me!" Link yelled. He whipped out a sword. "Tell me where she is, Gannondorf!"  
  
"Yeah, and what about Voldemort?" Harry asked rather boldly, stepping slightly forward. He could smell the odious stench of blood.  
  
Gannondorf turned to face Harry. "Well, here's the little hero himself. I 'spose you're just like fairy boy here, aren't you? Always saving the school from peril, just as Link saves his country from my wrath. Tell me, boy. How is it that you have managed to successfully defeat and evade Voldemort your whole life?"  
  
Harry couldn't move. Through clenched teeth, he said, "I had help."  
  
"Oh really?" Gannondorf sniffed. "From whom, may I ask?"  
  
"My friends."  
  
Squinting his eyes, Gannondorf stared Harry in the eye. Then he burst into laughter, throwing his head back. "I see. I may as well tell you know that as we speak, Voldemort is in this very room. I can see him. None of you can. To be quite blunt, you're all in very precarious danger."  
  
Link reached for something behind his back. He pulled out a bomb, and, without any warning, launched it towards Gannondorf. The Gerudo King got hit in the face, and he doubled over in agony.  
  
"Link, help!"  
  
Looking around the large room, Link tried to find out where the voice was coming from. He recognized it immediatley as Zelda's. . .then he realized that she was contacting him telepathically.  
  
"Are you in this room?" he asked her.  
  
"Yes, I'm under Gannondorf's throne!"  
  
Some of the teachers jumped as Link suddenly ran forward. He leapt over Gannondorf and headed towards the chair. He tried vainly to lift it. Apparently, it had been bolted to the floor.  
  
"Zelda, are you there?" Link asked quietly.  
  
"Yes," returned a voice that was nothing but a hoarse whisper.  
  
"Someone help me over here!" Link shouted to the others. He threw another bomb at Gannondorf just to be safe.  
  
"Link, stop! It's Voldemort!"  
  
It was Zelda's voice. Confused, Link turned around and saw the princess right behind him. "Wha--? But you were. . .you're--"  
  
"That's Voldemort!" Zelda interrupted. "He's pretending to be me! It's a trap Link, quick, get away from there!"  
  
"Wait!" cried the voice from under the chair. "How do you know that SHE isn't lying to you? Link, THAT'S Voldemort!"  
  
"Shut up!" yelled Zelda (or at least the person that looked like her).  
  
"GAAH!!! WHO DO I TRUST?!" Link shouted.  
  
Zelda sighed in frustration. "If you don't believe me, ask me a question that only I would know the answer to!"  
  
"Okay, fine! Uh. . ." Link tried to quickly think of a random question. "Got it! What did you spill on your favorite blue dress on your eighteenth birthday?"  
  
"Red wine!" cried the voice from under the chair.  
  
"Yes, it WAS red wine," Zelda added. "But for your information, it was YOU who spilled it on me."  
  
Gannondorf's throne suddenly burst to pieces. Underneath it was scrawny, giant man with thinning hair.  
  
"Voldemort?!" Harry cried, stepping closer.  
  
"Yes," the Dark wizard answered, grinning maliciously. "I have once again been forced to take the body of another, Mr. Potter. I do hope you're satisfied. But nonetheless, you have failed to stop me thus far."  
  
Meanwhile, Link had pulled Zelda over to a corner. "Zel, are you all right? What'd they do to you? We heard screaming coming from behind the door!"  
  
"I'll be all right, Link," Zelda replied hastily. "I screamed in hopes that someone would hear me. I'm just glad it was you."  
  
"But did they hurt you?"  
  
"Oh, you know, the usual stuff," Zelda answered. "I've got a few scars here and there, but I'll be fine. But come on! We've got to help the others!"  
  
Voldemort walked towards Dumbledore. "Well, well, well. If it isn't my dear friend, Albus Dumbledore." He looked around at the other teachers. "I've always believe in strength in numbers myself, you know."  
  
"Leave the others alone, Voldemort," Dumbledore growled. "Your quarrel should lie with me, and me alone."  
  
"Excuse me, Dumbledore, but since when have I been one to spare the innocent?" Voldemort laughed. "I'd have thought that by now you'd have realized that. But anyway, it's not you that I want to quarrel with, Dumbledore. Step aside." He turned slowly to look at Harry. "The boy and I have something to work out."  
  
"Then why don't I leave you to that," said Gannondorf, sitting down on a step that had lead to throne before it was destroyed. "I'd like to relax before I am forced to fight with those two devils again."  
  
"We should give Harry a hand while we can," Zelda whispered to Link. "It looks like Gannondorf may be out for a few minutes."  
  
"Well, I wouldn't say he exactly needs our help," Link said, as they inched along the wall towards Harry. "He's beaten this guy before, and he's got a whole team of teachers to back him up. And remember Dumbledore said that Voldemort was afraid of him?"  
  
"Afraid of Harry or Dumbledore?"  
  
"Dumbledore."  
  
"Perhaps if we're lucky, Link, maybe we'll be able to teach Voldemort to be afraid of elves, too!"  
  
Voldemort took out his wand, and dropped it next to his feet. "Harry, you know as well as I do that any battle that goes on between us may have. . .interesting results. Go on boy, put down your wand."  
  
"Oh, right," Harry laughed. "Is that what you really expect me to do, Voldemort? Just throw away the only defense I have?"  
  
"It would be wise of you, Potter," Voldemort answered cooly. "With or without my wand, you know that I could easily kill you."  
  
"Oh, of course," Harry said, playing along. "That's why you've been killing me for the past fifteen years of my life, right?"  
  
Voldemort's eyes narrowed, as he slowly picked up his wand. "I can do it, Harry. I could kill everyone in this very room, if it was my wish to do so. Just one spell will do it. Now that both of your dear parents are DEAD, there's no one to protect you."  
  
"I don't need anyone's protection," Harry growled. "I can get along fine by myself."  
  
"Really?" Voldemort asked him, pretending to be surprised. "Because I thought that you said to Gannondorf a while ago that your friends always helped you out. Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger, is that right?"  
  
Harry said nothing. In his pocket, his hand grasped his wand tightly.  
  
Suddenly, McGonagall darted forward. She flew straight past Harry and Voldemort, and ran right into the stone wall on the other side of the room. She fell to the ground in a state of unconciousness.  
  
Laughing, Voldemort turned around to stare at McGonagall's still body. "Is this what all of your teachers are like here, Dumbledore?" he screeched, still laughing hysterically. "Brainless psychopaths?"  
  
"CRUCIO!" Dumbledore suddenly shouted, thrusting his wand at Voldemort's turned back. The dark wizard collapsed the floor, shrieking terribly.  
  
"STOP, YOU COWARD!" Voldemort screamed.  
  
"Harry," Dumbledore said to Harry calmly, still keeping his wand pointed at Voldemort. "If we live through this, remind me to thank McGonagall for that wonderful demonstration of a distraction."  
  
Had their current prediciment not been so serious, Harry would have burst out laughing. Finally, Dumbledore stopped doing the curse, and allowed Voldemort to slowly get to his feet.  
  
"Was that good form, Albus?" Voldemort wheezed, clutching his stomach. "Attacking when your opponent's back is turned?"  
  
"You are not one to talk about good form, Voldemort," Dumbledore said, stepping forward slightly.  
  
"Why don't we thank our dear Professor?" Voldemort asked. He picked up his wand and pointed it at McGonagall. "Av--"  
  
Out of the blue, Zelda came flying from no where. She landed on top of Voldemort, forcing him to the ground. The elf managed to grab the wand away from his hand. She sat up as Voldemort tried to get his wand back.  
  
"Give it to me, Zelda!" Dumbledore called out. She threw it to him, but someone else intercepted.  
  
"Excellent throw, Zelda," Gannondorf laughed, twirling Voldemort's wand in his hand. "You would've done well on the Hyrule football team. Voldemort, here!" He tossed the wand to Voldemort, who was gradually standing up.  
  
"Good try, but no cigar!" Link shouted, jumping in and catching the wand.  
  
"Don't you know smoking is bad for you?" Gannondorf asked.  
  
Voldemort grabbed Gannondorf's shoulder and turned him around to face him. "How can you make JOKES at a time like this?!"  
  
"It's my defense mechanism," Gannondorf sniffed.  
  
"Some defense! If I didn't know any better, I'd--CURSE YOU, GANNONDORF!! DUMBLEDORE HAS MY WAND!!"  
  
"Oops."  
  
Link slowly drew his sword. He pointed it menacingly at Gannondorf. "Go back to Death Mountain where you belong."  
  
"It's not that easy, fairy boy!" Gannondorf snarled. With a swift movement. he knocked Link aside with his hand. The Hero of Time banged into the wall with a groan.  
  
"GANON!" Zelda shrieked. She took a running start, then leapt on top of the Dark King's shoulders. "Link, throw me your sword!"  
  
"I've got something better than that!" Link coughed, standing up. To Gannondorf's sheer amazement, he pulled out the Triforce.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
WOO-HOOOOO!! PLZ REVIEW!!  
  
btw, i just want 2 say Happy (Late) Birthday to Princess Zelda!!! (the. . .reader, not the actual character) 


	21. Unlikely Heroes

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Staring in confusion at Link, Zelda flipped off of Gannondorf's shoulders and at ran towards him. "You actually have them with you?"  
  
"Yep." Link pulled out the three objects of magic.  
  
"Princess," Gannondorf laughed. "You know as well as I that you need three people to use the Triforce against me."  
  
"Shut it, Gannondorf. I'm trying to think here." Zelda turned towards Link. "So I'm Wisdom, you're Courage, and. . .who's power?"  
  
"Dumbledore, get over here!" Link called out. "We need your help!"  
  
"You don't think I'm just going to stand here and let you do this to me, do you?" Gannondorf snickered. "There's such a thing as fighting back."  
  
Leaving Harry and the others to deal with Voldemort, Dumbledore strided over towards Link and Zelda. "You have my undivided attention. What is it that you so desperately need my help with?"  
  
"You won't have time to teach him what he needs to know!" Gannondorf shouted in anxiety. "I'm not going to let you do it, Zelda!"  
  
"Yes, you will!" shouted someone. Link and Zelda watched in shock as the tip of a sword showed through Gannondorf's chest. Slowly, it withdrew, giving the evil king as much pain as possible. Somebody had stabbed him in the back.  
  
"SNAPE?!" Zelda and Link cried in unison.  
  
"Teach Albus what he needs to know to destroy this man," Snape said calmly, dropping Link's sword. "I hope I've bought you enough time."  
  
"I'm afraid you haven't!" Gannondorf choked, blood coming out from his throat. "But I'm not fool enough to just wait around here to die!" He reached out his hand, and a blue portal appeared. He started to crawl into it.  
  
"Don't let him get away!" Zelda cried, running towards it.  
  
But before anyone could grab him, someone had appeared to start pulling Gannondorf through the other side of the portal. In about two seconds, he was gone.  
  
"Well, that takes care of that for now," Link sighed, pocketing the Triforce. "But we've got another man to deal with right now.  
  
"Don't try it, Voldemort," Harry said, pointing his wand at the wizard. "You know what'll happen if you do!"  
  
Leering darkly at Harry, Voldemort turned his hands into fists inside his robes. He had threatened to kill all of the teachers surrounding him. But if he did so, Harry said, he'd have to deal with Harry and his wand.  
  
But Link didn't really feel that that made a difference. After all, he had Voldemort's wand in his pocket.  
  
"Shadows of ghosts can make an awful distraction," Harry said. "You'd better be careful, Voldemort."  
  
"You can't just leave me like this all night," Voldemort hissed, his teeth clenched tightly together.  
  
"He's right," whispered one of the teachers from behind Harry.  
  
Suddenly and unexpectedly, the doors burst open. Everyone turned to face them, full of suprise. And who should come dashing into the room but--  
  
"Ron?!" Harry shouted. "Ginny?!"  
  
"Weasley?!" the teachers cried.  
  
But they couldn't hear them. Ron was wearing a large pair of green earmuffs, and Ginny had on red ones. They both produced a similar group of the items.  
  
"What on earth are these for?!" several of the Professor asked, as Ron handed them each a pair of earmuffs.  
  
"DON'T ASK QUESTIONS, JUST PUT THEM ON!" Ron said rather loudly, not remembering that they could all hear him perfectly fine. He continued to distribute the earmuffs to the teachers (and of course to Harry).  
  
"What're you doing here?" Zelda asked, putting on the blue earmuffs Ginny handed her. "How did you--"  
  
"JUST PUT ON THE EARMUFFS," Ron interrupted, thinking that she was inquiring about them. He walked back to the main doorway with Ginny, and began to address the whole room. "WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T TAKE OFF THE EARMUFFS!" He slammed the door.  
  
"What was that all about?" McGonagall mouthed to Flitwick.  
  
"What?" he mimed back.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Never mind," they both said silently.  
  
All of a sudden, Hermione burst into the room. She donned large, yellow ear muffs. In her left hand was a crying shrieking Mandrake.  
  
"GRANGER!" Link and Zelda shouted (even though no one could hear them). But by now, they were prepared to expect anything.  
  
Hermione edged as close to Voldemort as she dared. "I SEE YOU AREN'T WEARING ANY PROTECTION!" she yelled. She waved the plant she held in front of her. "IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW, THE CRY OF THE MANDRAKE IS FATAL TO ANYONE WHO HEARS IT!!"  
  
If he hadn't known it before, Voldemort certainly knew it now. He fell to the floor, screaming and trying to cover his ears.  
  
"YOU CAN'T KILL ME!" he roared.  
  
"SORRY, DIDN'T CATCH THAT!" Hermione screamed in a sing-song voice. "I MAY NOT BE HARRY POTTER, BUT I KNOW WHAT IT TAKES TO DEFEAT A DARK WIZARD!!"  
  
Emitting high-pitched, eerie screams, Voldemort's body started to twitch violently. Harry got an idea. He took out his wand and pointed it at the Dark Lord. Everyone seemed to catch on to the plan.  
  
Every (good) wizard in the room raised their wands. Ron and Ginny had now joined them from the hallway. In unison, they pointed their weapons at Voldemort and shouted "AVADA KEDAVRA!"  
  
Voldemort's body exploded. From the mangled skin, a wisp of a black shadow flew into the air. "Had that coward not abandoned me here, I'd have gotten you, Harry Potter! That's the last time I ever work with him!" And with that, what remained of Voldemort seeped through a wall and into the sky.  
  
Hermione ran over to the window in threw the shrieking Mandrake to its death. Everyone took off their earmuffs.  
  
There was silence. Then the small room exploded with cheers of the teachers. Ron and Hermione smiled modestly.  
  
"How did yuh two know?" Hagrid laughed, patting Ron sharply on the back.  
  
"Well, we were kind of lagging behind the other Gryffindors on the way to our common room," Ron began to explain. "And suddenly we smelled something terrible. And, needless to say, curiousity got the better of us. We followed it up a long stairway. At first, we thought the stench might've been Crabbe and Goyle."  
  
"Mr. Weasley," Snape said. "Kindly leave insults about any other students out of your little story."  
  
"All right," Ginny said. "He was just telling the truth. But anyway, we saw this stubby little mate sitting on the ground rubbing his head. Hermione thought it was a house-elf, so she ran forward."  
  
"We heard it muttering something," Hermione added. "He was saying 'Harry Potter and Link, the rotten. . .' then it got kind of hard to understand. Then we realized that he wasn't a house-elf, and we asked if he knew where Harry had gone. He pointed us to the door behind him. Then we inquired about who else was in the room."  
  
"So all he said was 'The Dark Lord and the Dark King,'" Ron continued, in a rather good impersonation of Ozzy. "So we ran back to the common room, thinking of what it was we could do. Then Hermione thought of the Mandrakes."  
  
"Where'd you get them?" Professor Sprout asked.  
  
"Well," Hermione said, blushing a bit. "I had to use the Alohamora spell to open the Greenhouse and get them. But after careful consideration, I thought you'd forgive me for breaking into the room if it meant saving you all."  
  
"Of course it's all right!" McGonagall sighed, conjuring up a handkercheif out of no where. She started dabbing her skin with it, getting rid of the sweat. "Seventy points for the three of you!"  
  
"Great job, you guys," Harry congratulated. "I hate to think what might've happened to us if you hadn't shown up. . ."  
  
"Are you guys all right?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Well, I think Zelda might've had to withstand a bit of abuse," Link said. "But I'm not sure if she really--"  
  
"I'll be fine," Zelda cut him off hastily. "We should all just be grateful that we got away with our lives!"  
  
At that point, a small barn owl flew into the room. It dropped a letter into Ron's hands. He opened it.  
  
"It's from mum," he said. "Wow. . .this whole letter is filled with thank yous for you, Hermione and Cho. . .she says that the gnome population is decreasing, I guess that's good news 'cause now we won't have to get rid of them anymore. . ."  
  
Ginny took the letter and turned it over. "There's a post script." She read it, and her eyes widened. "That's interesting. She says that this year is Hogwart's 400th anniversary. . . and she's written all this stuff about the parties they used to hold when she was at school. . . nothing we haven't heard, I'm sure."  
  
"Good heavens," Dumbledore said, as they all started to walk out the door. "With all of this battling going on, I forgot that this was our school's 400th year! Professor McGonagall, we must plan a celebration at once!"  
  
"Erm, all right," McGonagall said. "I suppose that 400 years IS a long time. . ."  
  
"Of course it is!" Zelda cried. "Four hundred is an awful long period of time! I think that's about how old Impa is. . ."  
  
"Har, har, Zelda," Link laughed.  
  
Harry quickened his pace, and told Ginny, Ron and Hermione to do so as well. A few moments later, they were ahead of the group, walking back to the Gryffindor common room. Ginny leaned forward and kissed Harry's cheek.  
  
"Well, what is it?" she asked.  
  
"I found something out about Harkinian," Harry told them. "She's REALLY a princess, just like I thought! She's actually heir to a throne in some place really far away called Hyrule."  
  
"Hyrule?" Hermione repeated. "I've never even heard of it!"  
  
"Then it MUST be far away!" Ginny laughed. "Wow. . .just exactly where is it, Harry? I'm dying to know."  
  
"Well actually, before I tell you that, I've got something else to say," Harry said, grinning widely. "Koke and Harkinian are both. . .well, they're, uh, neither of them are. . . that is to say, they're both not human."  
  
"Then what are they?" Ron laughed. "Dragons?"  
  
"Elves."  
  
"Elves?!" Hermione asked incredulously. "How on earth could they actually be elves? They're not near short enough!"  
  
"That's because Hyrule isn't. . .well, it's not on our planet."  
  
"Not on earth?" Ginny inquired. "Bubbling Butterbeer."  
  
"How's that possible?" Ron questioned, as the Fat Lady swung open. The four of them stepped into the common room. "Are you saying that Koke and Harkinian are some kind of alien-like elves?"  
  
"No, they're not aliens," Harry explained, laughing at his friends' confusion (even though he had been quite confused when he'd first heard it too). "But you see, it's kind of like they're not exactly--"  
  
"We're gonna be up all night listening to explain this one," Hermione sighed.  
  
"Not me," Ginny yawned, stretching her arms. "It's already two-thirty in the morning. I am very curious about this whole situation, but I'm also feeling extremely restless. Handing out earmuffs can be very tiring."  
  
"All right," Harry agreed. "Besides, Dumbledore'll probably announce the whole thing to the school tomorrow."  
  
"I doubt it," Hermione said. "You think he wants students to treat Koke and Harkinian like they're aliens or something?"  
  
"Well they ARE," Ron pointed out. "Technically speaking, anyway. Besides, the year's almost over, Hermione. There aren't many days left for students to gawk and goggle at those two, you know."  
  
"Whatever," Harry said. "I'll just tell you all tomorrow, if Dumbledore doesn't."  
  
"That works for me," Ginny said. "Night, guys." She and Hermione wearily climbed the steps that led to the girls' dormitories. Harry and Ron walked up the other staircase that would lead them to their beds.  
  
"Night, Harry," Ron whispered, collapsing onto his bed and drawing the curtains closed.  
  
"Night," Harry yawned. But sleep didn't come as easily to him as it did for Ron. He couldn't stop thinking about Zelda being the ruler of some distant land. It didn't seem at all probable. And Link had admitted to not being royalty, so how would things work between them? It was like one of those bad soap operas that Aunt Petunia liked to watch.  
  
He tried to keep the image of Zelda in his head. Whenever he didn't, his mind drifted towards Voldemort and Gannondorf. Harry turned over in his sleep. It was going to be tough to get a good night's sleep.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
yay 4 the weasleys and hermione!!! have u noticed that both of the baddies have annoyingly long names? it gets so exasperating to write all the time. that's y i like spelling gannondorf as just ganon sometimes, but 1 of my reviewers didn't like it. so o well!  
  
dont 4get 2 review!! 


	22. 400 years

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
btw, people, this part contains a "fluffy" (as some have called it) dance sequence between link+zelda. (:  
  
"C'mon Harry, hurry up!" Ron shouted. "We're going to be the last people that get into the hall!"  
  
"I'm coming!" Harry called back hastily. "I just have to find my--ah, there it is." He pointed his wand at his broken glasses. "Repairo!" They were magically fixed. Harry quickly put the glasses on and hurried down the stairs into the common room. Harry and Hermione were standing there impatiently.  
  
"About time you got down here!" Hermione scolded, as the portrait swung open for them. "Ginny's already gone down; we were nice and decided to wait for you." She sighed loudly. "My mistake."  
  
"Thanks," Harry said sarcastically.  
  
In three days, Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts would be over. Thanks to Mrs. Weasley, Dumbledore had remembered to hold a 400th anniversary part for the school. That was the event that Harry, Ron and Hermione were rushing to now.  
  
"There you guys are!" Ginny called out, motioning for Harry and the others to sit by her. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't show up! Dumbledore already gave a few opening remarks."  
  
"Which were what, exactly?" Hermione asked, smiling and sitting down.  
  
"Oogle Poogle gobschnik woply."  
  
"Doesn't surprise me," Ron sighed, grinning. "I'm only sorry we missed it. But of course, Harry had a reasonable excuse for making us late."  
  
"Which was what?" Ginny asked  
  
"I misplaced my wand," Harry replied.  
  
"For about the eighteenth time this year," Ron laughed. "Watch out Harry--you may be getting Alzheimer!"  
  
"Ha, ha," Harry said flatly. He picked up a scone. "I can't believe that we're so close to graduating from Hogwarts! It feels like we just got here!"  
  
"Stop, you're making me cry," Ron said, frowning and pretending to wipe away a small tear.  
  
"No, I think Harry's got a point," Hermione said. "It feels like only yesterday that I opened that letter from Hogwarts--telling me I'd been accepted as part of Wizarding school! I thought it had been a prank from one of my neighbors, but then my mother said it had been delivered by an owl, and the neighbor was allergic to birds, so he couldn't have possibly sent the letter, and I realized that it was authentic."  
  
Harry, Ron and Ginny stared blankly at Hermione. Crickets chirped.  
  
"Right," Ginny said eventually, breaking the mutual silence. "Well, anyway, here's to Hogwarts." She raised her goblet. "Let's just hope it's around for a 500 year anniversary!"  
  
"Yeah, let's just hope that we're not around for it!" Ron joked, clinking his goblet with hers. "I wonder if Dumbledore's planned anything special for tonight."  
  
"'Course he has," Ginny said. "You guys missed it in his opening speech, I just forgot to tell you."  
"Yeah, you only told us the important stuff he said," Ron laughed.  
  
"He hired Those People to play after dinner! And there'll be dancing and everything, and he--"  
  
"Wait a minute," Harry interrupted. "Who're those people?"  
  
"Not those people," Ron said. "Those People! They're one of the most famous bands in the Wizarding world! Boy, you're still ignorant of so much, aren't you?"  
  
"Sorry, I don't get the wizarding channel back at Privet Drive," Harry said sardonically. "So what kind of music do Those People play?"  
  
"Oh, anything!" Ginny answered. "At first, they were called the Jukebox Judettes, but no one could remember their name. Everyone always referred to them as 'those people,' so that's what they changed their band name to. Jazz, classic, polka, cow music, anything!"  
  
"Sounds cool," Harry laughed. "So do you guys like them better than the Weird Sisters, or what?"  
  
"I dunno," Ron responded, shrugging. "I guess I like Those People better. They don't have accordians. I HATE accordians!"  
  
"I like them both the same," Ginny said.  
  
"And I still prefer Strauss," Hermione said.  
  
"Well, I guess I'll find out tonight whether or not I like them," Harry said, ignoring Hermione's comment. He took a deep breath. "This year's gone by too fast."  
  
"Oh, let's not keep going on the reminiscing trail," Ron groaned. "We're gonna miss Hogwarts, boo-hoo, period. End of story. No more grieving from this point on. Or at least for the rest of tonight."  
  
"Harry, said a voice."  
  
Turning around, Harry blushed slightly when he saw Cho standing behind him. She put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"I just wanted to thank you," she said. "You're a great kid, Harry. Seeing as how this is my last year at Hogwarts, I guess it'll probably be a while until I see you again. Just try to keep your face in the papers, and I'll at least know what's up!" She laughed a bit.  
  
Harry grinned. Ron guffawed loudly, attempting to make his friend look good. Hermione stepped on his foot.  
  
Cho stared at Ron, then turned back to Harry. "You've done so much for me already, Harry. So if there's anything I can ever do for you, just. . .well, if you're ever in Shanghai, look me up."  
  
"You're moving?" Harry asked incredulously. "To China?!" (A/N: I dont know about u people, but i've always imagined cho 2 b chinese)  
  
"Yes, that's where me and my family come from," Cho answered, somewhat sadly. "I was supposed to move a long time ago, but my parents wanted me to graduate." She bent down and kissed Harry's cheek softly. "Well, I hope the rest of you all have a great time finishing up here at Hogwarts. . .bye."  
  
With that, Cho walked numbly back to the Ravenclaw table.  
  
"Zai jian!" Hermione called after her. Cho looked back, and smiled.  
  
"What?" Ron, Harry and Ginny asked in confusion.  
  
"It means good-bye in Chinese," Hermione explained. "I've been learning both Japanese and Chinese since I was four during the summers."  
  
"How could you possibly take the time to learn foreign languages when we have homework over the summer, and playing to do?!" Ron asked. "You're unbelievable!"  
  
"It's a gift!" Hermione exclaimed, smiling brightly.  
  
Soon after, most everyone had finished eating. The tables were swept off to the sides of the room (for room to dance, of course), and those still finishing dinner were able to eat there. Then, to a large round of applause, Those People entered the Grand Hall. The candles in the room were dimmed, and it got a bit darker.  
  
Raising an eyebrow, Harry looked over at where the band was setting up. Drums, a saxophone, electric keyboard, bagpipes. . .yup, everything was there. Those People got themselves situated, and began to play the first tune. It was a quick latin beat, but no one was dancing yet.  
  
"I understand that the first dance is always difficult," Dumbledore chortled, "But won't someone be willing to break the ice?"  
  
Zelda grabbed Link's shoulder. "C'mon, let's go up there!" Before he had a chance to respond, the princess began dragging him to the dance floor.  
  
Dumbledore had ended up telling the school that Link and Zelda were both actually elves. That had been a while ago, and now most everyone was a bit used to it. . .he'd left out Hyrule and the fact that they weren't from Earth. Only Harry and the friends he had (wrongfully) confided in knew that.  
  
As they stepped onto the dance floor, Link stopped in front of Zelda. He seductivley took off her glasses. She grinned.  
  
"I don't really need those," she said. "But they make me look classy." She took her glasses back from Link and threw them into the darkness surrounding them. The princess placed her hands onto her hero's shoulders.  
  
Grinning, Link slid his hands down Zelda's black skin-tight gown until they reached her hips. He pulled her closer, then pushed her away. In and out. Over and over again, until she twirled into him, this time her back pressing against his chest.  
  
Zelda reached backwards and placed her hands on Link's neck. His hands skated down her dress once more until reaching her waist. They shuffled about aimlessly like this for a while, until Link moved one hand up to Zelda's shoulder.  
  
He dipped her. First to the left, and then down to the right. Harry heard Ginny and Hermione both inhale dreamily.  
  
"Oh, that's so romantic!" the Weasley girl sighed. "I wish some boy would dance with me like that some day!"  
  
Slowly, the song started to trail off. As the last notes played, Zelda suddenly reached up her hand, pulling Link's face closer to hers, so they were less than an inch apart. Then the princess broke down, and closed the space between them, kissing Link passionately.  
  
Before Link had the chance to really respond to this, the hall unexpectedly burst with screams and cheers. The two elves leapt apart immediately, as students filled the dance floor. Those People began playing a fast song, and everyone know felt comfortable enough to. . . well, dance.  
  
Blushing terribly, Zelda sat down at one of the tables. Link sat down across from her. He hesitated, then picked up her hand and squeezed it softly.  
  
"Zel. . ." he whispered softly, before she silenced him with one of her stunning smiles. He grinned at her, then kissed her hand delicately.  
  
Shaking her head, Zelda leaned back. "Look. . .I've been thinking about this for a very long time, Link. Perhaps even more than I should have. But nonetheless, I feel that I really should tell you know." She shuddered and leaned forward again. Zelda strained her ears, making sure no one else could hear what she was saying. "Link, I. . .I love you."  
  
Link swiftly moved forward and kissed her briefly. "I've been yearning for you to say that for the past seven years, Princess."  
  
Zelda smiled again, feeling as though she had just been redeemed by an angel.  
  
Meanwhile, the song that had just been playing (polka music) finished. One of Those People picked stepped onto the dance floor, and motioned towards Cho and Hermione. He turned to Cho.  
  
"I've got a question, Miss," he said. "Have you ever played a piano?"  
  
"Yes, since I was three."  
  
"How nice!" He turned to Hermione. "Have ever had an unquenchable thirst to play the alto saxophone?"  
  
"Erm. . .yes," Hermione answered.  
  
"THEN TODAY IS YOUR LUCKY DAY!!" the man shouted. He gave Hermione a saxophone and gave Cho a seat at the piano bench. "IT'S KARIOKE TIME!!"  
  
"What's Karioke?" Ron asked.  
  
Harry smiled. "Nothing."  
  
Then the music started rather abruptly. Floor lights appeared, and a disco ball dropped out of the ceiling. Harry could've sworn he saw Dumbledore wink at him.  
  
"Look, Hermione's playing that thing!" Ron shouted enthusiastically.  
  
"Um. . .yeah," Harry laughed. He grinned at Professor McGonagall, who had taken the spotlight and was dancing to the disco beat. Harry fell to the ground in a fit of unstoppable hysteric laughter.  
  
Zelda walked over to Ron. "Hello, Weasley."  
  
"Er, hello, Professor."  
  
"You ever dance to disco music?"  
  
"Um. . .no. . ."  
  
"Then it's about time you had! But I think I'd better give you a 70's makeover before you start feeling the music." Zelda put her fingertips on Ron's hair, and sparks started flying out of them. But before Ron had a chance to yelp in pain or shock, his hair had poofed out, making it look much like an afro.  
  
"HA HA HA HA HAHA!!!" Harry guffawed, trying desperately to catch a breath.  
  
"Hey, I feel. . ." Ron said, touching his hair. "GROOVY!" And with that, he rushed to McGonagall's side and began dancing to the disco with her.  
  
Seamus nudged Dean. "Look at Weasley, he's got an afro!"  
  
"Looks interesting on him," Dean laughed.  
  
The Hogwarts celebration lasted until two in the morning, when Those People said they had a booking in Bangkok that they had to attend. But from six p.m until two a.m., every student and teacher had a blast!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
*disco ball drops down; starts dancing like a freak* WOO-HOOO!!! hope u didnt mind that chapter, this storys almost done!! NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOO!! its been so fun 2 write, but im not done yet... 


	23. Every Time We Say GoodBye epilouge

~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Zelda closed her last trunk, and looked around the room. She sighed. She was starting to think that she would miss it at Hogwarts. The Princess turned curiously to the door when she heard quick footsteps from outside it. Harry, Ron and Hermione came running in at the same time, all very short of breath.  
  
"You're not actually leaving, are you!?" Harry asked.  
  
"I'm afraid I am," Zelda answered. "Link, too."  
  
"You're BOTH going?!" Ron inquired. "After only one year?!"  
  
"That's the term for a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, isn't it?" Zelda joked. "I've got too much to do at home. Hyrule needs me. And besides, we've served our purpose here at Hogwarts, I believe."  
  
"So. . .you've packed your things already?" Hermione asked slowly, looking around the empty classroom.  
  
"Yep," Zelda sighed. "Ron, be a dear and do me a favor, would you close that window for me? It's getting rather drafty in here. So strange for summer weather." Ron obeyed, and crossed the room to the window to shut it. Zelda reached up and took out the bow in her hair, letting it cascade down her back.  
  
"Er. . .did you, uh. . .want this?" Ron asked, blushing deeply and handing Zelda a newspaper he'd found on the windowsill.  
  
Zelda took it and gasped. Her face turned brick red, as she laughed. "Yes, I was looking for this; thank you Ron!"  
  
"What is it?" Hermione asked curiously.  
  
Blushing deeper and giving it to her, Zelda said, "It's me."  
  
The headline of the paper saidd, "'Gypsy' star Leona Harlom a smash success." Below it was a photograph of Zelda wearing a rather scandalous costume, and zapping the air with her lightning bolts. The caption read, " 'I'm electrifyin', and I ain't even tryin'', sings Harlom, playing stripper Electra in the new hit."  
  
((A/N: Gypsy is the best broadway show ever!!! Zelda played one of the funniest characters in this version!!))  
  
"Who's Leona Harlom?" Harry questioned, his eyes glued to the picture.  
  
"Well, I think I'm telling you too much, but one time I ran away from home--to another country, " Zelda explained. "I had to change my name to make sure no one recognized it.I got onto the Orpheum circuit, and they hired me to be in this play. It's based on a true story, you know." Blushing, she took the newspaper and stuffed it into a bag.  
  
"Looking at 'Gypsy,' were you?" asked Link, striding into the room with his bags. "C'mon Zel, we don't want to be late."  
  
"So you're leaving already?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yes," Link answered, grinning. "It's been great meeting you all, but we really have to get going."  
  
Zelda kissed Link's cheek quickly. "Yes, that's right." She smiled at her three students. "I guess we can tell you. . .we're getting married!"  
  
"No kidding!" Hermione cried joyfully. "I'm so happy for you. . .both. . .!"  
  
Ron and Harry's hearts plummeted into their stomachs. "Great," they mumbled.  
  
Link reached out and shook Harry's hand roughly. "I'm glad that I had the chance to meet you, Harry. You too, Ron. You're both great kids." He turned to Hermione. "And you. . . well, I don't really know you, but you're wonderful too."  
  
"Thanks," Hermione beamed.  
  
"Yes, good-bye!" said Zelda. She gave Hermione a hug, and granted each of the boys a small kiss.  
  
"Hope we see you around!" Hermione called after the elves as they rushed out the door. "I'll miss them."  
  
"Yeah, I actually liked the DATDA teacher this year," Ron sighed, as they walked out of the room.  
  
Ginny ran up to them. "Where've you guys been? We're going to miss the train, hurry it up, will ya?"  
  
"We're getting there," Harry laughed.  
  
And the four friends rushed to hop on the train back home. As the wind flapped in his face, Harry could only think about what he'd be in store for next year at this magical place; Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
  
~THE END~ 


End file.
